Following the mass uprising, the government has made several changes to school textbooks.
In the latest move, the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) has removed the word ‘Bangabandhu’ that previously preceded the name of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in textbooks.
The prefix ‘Bangabandhu’ was included before Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s name in textbooks for the 2025 academic year. However, from the next academic year, the word will no longer appear. The decision was taken by the NCTB with approval from the National Curriculum Committee (NCC).
According to sources, online versions of the revised textbooks for primary and secondary students for the 2026 academic year will be made available on the NCTB website from Sunday (December 28).
Jago News has obtained a copy of the eighth-grade textbook titled ‘Bangladesh and World Introduction’ for the 2026 academic year. In Chapter Three, ‘Bangladesh Liberation War and Democratic Struggle’, Lesson Two – ‘7th March Speech’ – mentions Sheikh Mujibur Rahman without the prefix ‘Bangabandhu’. The same naming convention has been followed in several other textbooks.
However, NCTB sources clarified that instances where ‘Bangabandhu’ appears as a formal title or honorific have not been changed. The revision applies only where the word was used as part of the name or in explanatory contexts, which have now been standardized as ‘Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’.
Historical records show that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was acquitted in the Agartala Conspiracy Case and released on February 22, 1969. The following day, on February 23, the Central Student Sangram Parishad organised a public reception in his honour at the Race Course Maidan (now Suhrawardy Udyan) in Dhaka. At the gathering, then student leader Tofail Ahmed announced the title ‘Bangabandhu’ for Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.