The High Court has ordered the government to include Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s historic March 7 speech of 1971 in the national curriculum.
The government will have to form a committee of education experts to decide at which level of study the speech will be inserted and how, according to a verdict delivered on Wednesday, reports bdnews24.com.
The court will finalise the inclusion and give a deadline in the written judgment, Deputy Attorney General Al Mahmud Bashar said.
He said a deputy attorney general will submit the names to the court after confirmation from the government.
The committee will decide whether to include the speech in the syllabus of SSC, HSC or higher education, Attorney General AM Amin Uddin said.
The panel of Justice FRM Nazmul Ahasan and Justice Shahed Nuruddin delivered the verdict after hearing a writ petition filed by Bashir Ahmed, former general secretary of Supreme Court Bar Association, in 2017.
After initial hearings, the High Court had issued a rule asking why Mar 7, the day Bangabandhu delivered his famous address at the Ramna Race Course, now Suhrawardy Udyan, is not marked as the ‘National Historic Day’.
The rule asked why preservation measures should not be put in place for the Suhrawardy Udyan and the location where the Pakistani military surrendered.
The court also asked why a Bangabandhu statue should not be built at the location of the 7 March stage and the place where Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was welcomed.
After hearing a supplementary writ petition, the High Court on Feb 25 this year ordered the government to declare Mar 7 the National Historic Day and issued a rule asking why the speech should not be included in textbooks.
On Mar 7, 1971, as Bangladesh was about to enter the final stages of its independence movement, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in his speech urged Bangalees to get ready for a war against Pakistan.
Eighteen days after the speech, as the Pakistani military began its operation in Bangladesh, he formally proclaimed independence and the people took up arms. After nine months of struggle, Bangladesh achieved its victory.
The defeated Pakistani military signed the order of surrender at that same Suhrawardy Udyan on Dec 16, 1971.
UNESCO has added Bangabandhu’s 7th March address to the Memory of the World International Register, recognising its importance as part of the world’s documentary heritage.
