A year ago, there was a big argument about how to write the Kokborok language in Tripura, a place where many tribal people speak this language. Pradyot Kishore Debbarma, who leads the TIPRA Motha party, said that in some schools, teachers refused to help students understand their Kokborok exam questions, which were written in Bengali. Because of this, many students had to turn in blank answer sheets because they couldn’t read Bengali.
In a video, Debbarma shared that the government had promised to help these students understand their exams and allow them to write in Roman script if they couldn’t read Bengali. He received a call saying that the Kokborok exam was still in Bengali, and many students were confused.
Debbarma mentioned that while many students received help at some places, a few examination centers didn’t follow the rules. The Tripura Board of Secondary Education (TBSE) had set different exam dates for languages, with Kokborok exams on February 27 and 28.
He has also asked Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for help regarding the ongoing fight over using Roman script for Kokborok. Debbarma plans to talk to the Chief Minister, Dr. Manik Saha, and wants a full investigation into why some teachers did not follow the instructions. He encourages his party members to discuss this issue during the budget meeting starting March 21.
Debbarma has spoken with student leaders to gather reports and has found out that some teachers were not supportive of the students. Even though they are in an alliance, he believes they shouldn’t ignore local issues if instructions aren’t followed.
Notably, the head of TBSE was unavailable for comments. Kokborok was made an official language in Tripura back in 1979. There have been two commissions to resolve script issues, but the debate continues.
The problem with how to write Kokborok surfaced last year when the TBSE decided to only allow Bengali script for the exams because they didn’t have enough qualified teachers to check papers written in Roman script, leading to protests. Eventually, the state government had to step in and allow both Bengali and Roman scripts for the exams.
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