Dumka, Aug. 12: Sido-Kanhu Murmu University today revoked its decision to exclude Bengali from its BEd course, succumbing to the mounting pressure by the Bengali speaking community.

About a fortnight ago, SKMU had resolved to exclude Bengali from the list of regional language subjects included in its BEd syllabus in all the five constituent colleges where the course has been running for the last five years.

The decision to axe Bengali was spurred after tribal students of the university demanded that the number of seats in Santhali be increased.

The students had demanded allotment of five per cent seats exclusively for Santhali.

Dean of students’ welfare Paras Mani Singh said that according to the guidelines of HRD department, five per cent seats were meant for all regional languages — Bengali, Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, Santhali, Oraon and Mundari — as per student availability.

“As there are 100 BEd seats in each of the five cradles, five seats are allotted for regional languages,” Singh told The Telegraph, adding that out of the five, two seats were allotted for Sanskrit and one for Santhali, Urdu and Bengali each.

Singh admitted that the decision to withdraw Bengali from the list was taken by the administration in the backdrop of the demand of tribal students to increase the seats for Santhali.

“After excluding Bengali, we had increased seats for Santhali from one to two. Now that we have to reintroduce Bengali, we will decrease the seats meant for Sanskrit from two to one,” he said.

Notably, HRD resolution in 2002, seen as the basis for introducing regional languages by the varsity, does not mention Bengali as one.

However, Singh argued that the varsity administration had introduced Bengali in view of the sizeable Bengali community in Santhal Pargana.

“Vice chancellor M. Basheer Ahmad Khan has, in principle, agreed to include Bengali in the BEd course. A formal decision to this effect will be taken in the admission committee meeting which will be convened soon,” he stated.

Meanwhile, the state secretary of Bengali Bhasa O Sanskriti Raksha Samiti, Gautam Chatterjee, has termed the whole episode a conspiracy to humiliate the Bengali speaking community.

“This is not for the first time that SKMU has shown disrespect for the Bengali language. A year ago, the varsity administration had decided to shut down the postgraduate Bengali department, citing lack of teachers and infrastructure. Our intervention prevented it from happening,” Chatterjee said.