School text books in Rajasthan will now tell the story of Indian Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman who became an overnight hero in India following his arrest, detention and eventual release by Pakistani authorities last week.

The announcement was made on social media by the state's education minister, Govind Singh Dotasra on March 4. As per the minister, Abhinandan who was educated in Jodhpur, will now feature in school textbooks.

The tweet translates as, "To commemorate the bravery of the Jodhpur-read Wing Commander Abhinandan, who recently became known for his nerves of steel while in Pakistan, the government has decided to include the tale of the pilot's valour in school textbooks in Rajasthan."

A similar message was also posted on the minister's Facebook handle.

Wing Commander Abhinandan became a household name in India after he downed a Pakistani F-16 before his own Mig-21 aircraft was shot down. He parachuted in Pakistani territory where he was captured an interrogated for almost 60 hours before finally being released back to India via the Wagah-Attari border last Friday.

Previously, Dotasra had said that of the 40 Central Reserve Police Force jawans killed in Pulwama , stories and history of the five who were from Rajasthan be added to the syllabus. He made the suggestion to the review committee last month following the attack on the army convoy in Pulwama on Feb 14.

Since Congress's came to power in the state, the government has allocated Rs 21.44 crores for the development of a defence academy for defence recruitment training. Once set up, the academy will provide free coaching to state domicile students and aspirants appearing for competitive defence examinations such as the National Defence Academy and Staff Selection Board.

This is not the first time that Rajasthan's school syllabus has been modified or proposed to be modified in keeping with current affairs. During former BJP CM Vasundhara Raje's tenure, opposition leaders often slammed the state for politicising education after it modified the syllabus to remove all references of the word 'great' in conjunction to the Mughal emperor Akbar and asserted that Maharana Pratap was the real winner of the battle of Haldighati.