It is impossible for me to understand exactly what the Honourable Higher Education Minister has said, because the environment in which we grew up did not permit even the use of an improper synonym for the word “brother-in-law.” At home, and even in school, there was strict supervision regarding how we spoke and what choice of words was considered appropriate.
That was our generation. During that period, Bengali literature and culture also maintained certain boundaries — boundaries that perhaps began to loosen from the 1980s onwards. However, one thing that had never happened in Bengal was the entry of vulgar language into the culture of the educational world.
In today’s Gen Z era, when I sit in a university canteen or walk around the campus for some work, I sometimes overhear a few words from students’ private conversations that may make one uncomfortable. Yet, in direct interaction, those students have never used disrespectful words towards me.
I was looking back at who had served as Education Ministers of Bengal in the past. At the Centre, Bengal had produced Education Ministers like Dr. Triguna Sen and Professor Humayun Kabir. Bengal’s Education Ministers included distinguished personalities such as Dr. Pannalal Bose, Rai Harendranath Chowdhury, Satyapriya Roy, Debiprasad Chattopadhyay, and Dr. Gopal Das Nag. In my own memory, I have seen Professor Satyasadhan Chakraborty and Professor Sudarshan Raychaudhuri serve as Higher Education Ministers. In school education too, there were figures like Kanti Biswas and Partha De.
Most of them were educationists or people who had established themselves in respected professions. This tradition was broken after 2011. As a consequence, the overall education system of the state has also suffered greatly.
After the change of government, the person who became Education Minister shocked many educated people of the state through his choice of language. Does this mean that education itself has now been completely sacrificed?
Think about it: a professor who explains complex mathematics on the classroom board, a teacher who interprets Aranyak in a dimly lit classroom, someone who teaches the Mangal Kavya, or a scholar discussing Latin American literature — all of them now have to address a minister who uses such language as “Sir.”
Alas!, Bengal.
