Northeast Desk, 9th January: The Tripura government, as of now, has not made any ‘policy decision’ regarding the permission for students to write Kokborok language answer papers in Roman script, informed in-charge Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath during the state assembly session. Responding to a query from opposition leader Animesh Debbarma, he clarified that Chief Minister Manik Saha’s assurance in the previous session about forming a committee to address the matter had not materialized into a policy decision.
Highlighting the urgency of the issue, Debbarma pointed out that approximately 5,000 Kokborok-speaking students, slated to appear in the CBSE examination commencing on February 15, might face difficulties if not allowed to write in Roman script. He emphasized that these students cannot write papers in Bengali script.
Expressing concern over the impasse, CPI(M) legislator Jitendra Choudhury recalled that during the Left regime, Kokborok-speaking students were permitted to write answers in both Bengali and Roman scripts. However, the in-charge education minister dismissed this claim, stating that the CBSE rejected the introduction of the Kokborok language in both scripts, allowing only one.
It is worth noting that the Tipra Motha, in its election manifesto, had promised to introduce the Roman script for the Kokborok language, the mother tongue of the majority of ethnic tribes in the northeastern state.
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