Tripura: FIR against TBSE President for discrimination of students’ rights

Agartala: An FIR has been filed against Dr. Dhananjay Ganchowdhury, the President of the Tripura Board of Secondary Education (TBSE), on allegations of discrimination and violation of the rights of indigenous students.

The complaint asserts that he is attempting to force students to answer the Kokborok language subject in the Bengali script during the upcoming board exams.

The FIR was registered at the New Capital Complex Police Station, following a complaint submitted to the Chairperson of the Tripura State Human Rights Commission (TSHRC) by John Debbarma, the Vice President of the Twipra Student’s Federation, which is a part of the North East Students' Organization (NESO).

According to John's statement in the FIR, the TBSE does not specify the script to be used for Kokborok.

Therefore, imposing a particular script on the students is deemed inappropriate.

The FIR highlights the statement of Tripura's Chief Minister, Dr. Manik Saha, who mentioned that no students were instructed to write the Kokborok language answers exclusively in the Bengali script.

Additionally, the Twipra Student's Federation submitted a request on September 22, 2022, to print Kokborok language question papers in both Roman and Bengali scripts.

John Debbarma emphasizes that currently, 99 per cent of students from both English and Bengali medium schools prefer the Roman script.

He argues that the TBSE should not impose a script that goes against the students' preferences.

Referring to reports from the Script Selection Committee in 1991, chaired by Shyama Charan Tripura, and the Tripura Upajati Bhasha Commission in 2005, led by Pabitra Sarkar, the FIR contends that both committees clearly stated that the majority of people favor the Roman script.

In light of these findings, John requests appropriate action against Dr. Dhananjay Ganchowdhury for alleged discrimination and violation of students' fundamental rights.