Maharashtra textbooks could get chapter on Aruna Shanbaug’s nurses

Education minister Vinod Tawde said he will suggest to the board of studies that a chapter be added on the nurses’ work and of the care they took of Shanbaug till her death on May 18.

The story of the nurses who took care of Aruna Shanbaug for 42 years could make it to school textbooks in Maharashtra.

Education minister Vinod Tawde said he will suggest to the board of studies that a chapter be added on the nurses’ work and of the care they took of Shanbaug till her death on May 18.

Shanbaug, 67, had been comatose since November 27, 1973, the night on which she was gagged with a dog chain and sodomised by a ward boy at the KEM Hospital in Parel, where she was a staff nurse.

Ever since, different batches of nurses at the hospital had been taking care of her.

Her story will teach students about compassion, Tawde said. “A group of educationists met me recently with this request. I think having a chapter on Shanbaug will benefit students,” he said.

As the syllabus for Class 6 to 8 is yet to be revised, the chapter could be added in these textbooks, education officials said.

Teachers too agreed that a chapter on Shanbaug’s nurses is good idea. “There is lot to learn from Shanbaug’s story. It will give students a message on compassion and kindness,” said Anjana Prakash, principal, Hansraj Morarji Public School, Andheri.