Kokborok Script Row: Students’ group stage protest in Tripura

Agartala: The Twipra Students Federation (TSF), the indigenous students’ wing affiliated with the North East Student’s Organization (NESO), has issued a stern warning of staging a large-scale protest unless the Tripura Board of Secondary Education (TBSE) and the state government accede to their demand of permitting students to write exams in the Roman script for the Kokborok language.

On Monday, the TSF took to the streets, staging a protest in front of the TBSE office in Agartala.

In conversations with reporters, a protester emphasized their familiarity with the TBSE office, having repeatedly approached it to advocate for the use of the Roman script in Kokborok language exams.

“The TBSE and the state government are playing politics with a language and jeopardizing the future of students, prompting our protest here. Recently, TBSE President Dr. Dhananjay Gan Chowdhury attempted to impose a specific script for indigenous students, infringing on our democratic right to education and fundamental rights. We possess the autonomy to choose our script for exams, yet the TBSE and the state government are jeopardizing students' futures. With exams looming just 10 days away, they remain without a viable solution. It seems the state government is still in a state of inertia,” he expressed.

He went on to assert that should the state government remain unresponsive to their demands, the TSF and allied student organizations would be compelled to orchestrate widespread protests across the state, urging the adoption of the Roman script for the Kokborok language.