Ranchi, Jan. 2: Apart from regular lessons, students of government schools of Jharkhand will soon be learning about tribal legend Birsa Munda, legendary hockey player Jaipal Singh Munda, popularly known as Marang Gomke, cultural icon Ram Dayal Munda and contemporary sporting heroes like M.S. Dhoni and former hockey player Asunta Lakra, among others.

If the state HRD department has its way, chapters on the lives and times of these eminent personalities will make into around 50 lakh textbooks that will be distributed at government schools across the state in the next academic year.

However, the exact number of inspiring tales featuring in the curriculum is expected to be known on Monday after a Jharkhand Council Educational Research Training (JCERT) meeting to approve the syllabi for the next academic year.

Neera Yadav, minister for school and literacy mission and high and technical education, told The Telegraph that they had decided to include chapters on the state's iconic personalities in school textbooks so that students could draw inspiration from their stories.

"For long, I wanted people, especially our students, to know about all the good things of Jharkhand and its important personalities, for which we need to include chapters on them in our study books. After a lot of discussion, we are now planning to include them in books, which will be distributed in the next academic sessions," Yadav said.

The minister, however, couldn't exactly say how many personalities would enter the textbooks, adding that she would formally announce the names in a couple of days. "But we are trying to include as many sportsperson and others as possible," she said.

"The biographies of icons like Birsa Munda and Marang Gomke will expose the children to their struggles and achievements, thus motivating them to dream big. Education is all about spreading knowledge and positivity," she said.

Manish Ranjan, director, primary education, said this was for the first time that Jharkhand was going to publish its own textbooks since it came into existence. So far, National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) used to publish the books. <>However, JCERT, which debuted in state few years back but largely remained defunct is now revived and state took a decision to publish its own books.I can't recall immediately. I can give you the details on Monday. We have almost designed materials for all subject books and their CDs are ready. JCERT will hold a meeting on Monday to officially approve the same. The meeting will be headed by secretary of school and literacy mission Aradhana Patnaik," he said, adding that close to 50 lakh textbooks had to be published for the 2016 session as enrolments in schools shot up after special drives in all districts last year.