A top British institute, which has been teaching Bengali for about 100 years, is set to get a helping hand from Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in running the course.
WB CM will announce a string of scholarships for students willing to study Bengali at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), a premier institute under University of London, when she visits UK later this month.
She is expected to make the announcement while paying her homage to Rabindranath Tagore at Gordon Square in central London, near which SOAS is also located. SOAS has been teaching Bengali language ever since its inception 99 years ago.
The study of Bengali language and literature, and of Bengali history , society and culture, has a long history at SOAS, dating back to the foundation of the institute in 1916. The first London University post in Bengali had been established at the University College of London in the 1850s and it was presumably moved to SOAS when the school was established.