Lucknow, Jun 23 (IANS): The students of Classes 9 to 12 in UP Board will study the biography of Veer Savarkar.

Apart from Savarkar, the chapters on the life of 50 other great men have been included in the syllabus. They include Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, Mahavir Jain, Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, Arvind Ghosh, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Sarojini Naidu, Nana Saheb, Chandra Shekhar, Ramkrishna Paramhans among others.

UP education minister Gulab Devi said that the inclusion of these chapters was aimed at strengthening the moral and cultural values of children who will grow up and take part in nation building.

She said that the opposition parties were getting frustrated and were criticising the move.

Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party (SP) has asked the UP government to reconsider its decision to include the chapter on Veer Savarkar.

SP spokesman Sunil Sajan said that the state government should apologise to millions of freedom fighters for eulogizing Veer Savarkar who had betrayed their sentiments by apologizing to the British rulers.