MUMBAI: India’s favourite cricketer Sachin Tendulkar has made it to the textbooks of the state board, giving students a chance to study his life and career.

A chapter describing Tendulkar’s cricketing journey has been included in the class IV English and Marathi Balbharti textbooks. The chapter, which introduces students to the concept of collage, describes the professional life of Tendulkar and lists the awards that have been bestowed on the cricketer. Full of pictures, the two-page chapter also has excerpts from his farewell speech where he talks about his coach Ramakant Achrekar .

The syllabus for class IV was upgraded this year on the basis of the National Curriculum Framework (2005), which seeks to bring all state boards on par with the CBSE.

The Maharashtra government decided to include a chapter on Tendulkar in textbooks after various organizations like the Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena and the Maharashtra State Teachers’ Association had written to state school education minister, Rajendra Darda, to include a chapter on the sports legend. “The cricketer has achieved so many heights in his professional life. His story is a great inspiration for the students and will help them work harder,” said Chetan Pednekar, vice-president, MNVS.

