Saga of 'Village of Rebels' to be included in Haryana school curriculum

The saga of a Haryana village, which took part in the country's First War of Independence, will be included in the school curriculum from the next academic session, the state government said Friday.

State Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma announced the decision while presiding over a meeting of the school education department at the Civil Secretariat here.

The government has decided to include in school syllabus the inspiring saga of Rohnat village in Bhiwani district -- about 233 km from here, Sharma said.

Rohnat were branded as a "Village of Rebels" by the Britishers during the revolt of 1857 against the East India Company.

For their role in the First War of Independence, the entire village population was stripped off their landholdings and men were crushed under road-rollers, locals have maintained.

A film on Rohnat, setting up a 'Rohnat Freedom Trust', providing free-of-cost treatment for the village's people, who are aged 60 or above, are on the anvil, the minister said.

A 'shaheed smarak (martyr's memorial)' will be built in Rohnat on four acres of land. The valour and sacrifice of the people of Rohnat during the revolt of 1857 is unforgettable, he said.

Even after Independence, the residents had stopped celebrating the Independence Day functions, as they were peeved at not getting justice even after the end of the British regime.

In March, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had hoisted the national flag for the first time in Rohnat, where the Tricolour was never hoisted for the past 70 years as a mark of protest, Sharma added.