By TC News Desk
Agartala, 12th September 2024: Students from various colleges under Tripura (Central) University took to the streets on Thursday afternoon, blocking the road in the Battala area. The protest was sparked by the high failure rate in the first semester examinations, with students demanding immediate action to address their grievances.
The agitation saw a large number of students blocking the road in front of the educational building, causing significant disruption. The police were called in to manage the situation and had to act swiftly to control the agitating crowd.
One of the protesting students, speaking on behalf of the group, stated, “In the first semester, more than 18,000 students appeared for the exams, but only a little over two thousand managed to pass. This is unacceptable. We demand that the authorities take steps to ensure that we pass the second semester.”
The students allege that the college authorities have been imposing their views on them from the very beginning. “There are subjects in college that are completely unfamiliar to us, yet we are being forced to study them,” another student explained. “Moreover, there is a severe shortage of books, and the library does not have the necessary resources.”
The issue, according to the students, stems from the central government’s directives, which the state government has implemented. These directives have introduced new subjects from the school level up to the college level, which the students find challenging. “Take Hindi, for example,” a student pointed out. “While Hindi is the national language and many can speak it, learning it is a different matter. For decades, we have studied Sanskrit from class VII onwards, and now we are suddenly expected to learn Hindi, which has complex grammar and additional components.”
The students also highlighted the lack of qualified teachers for these new subjects. “We do not have proper teachers to guide us in Hindi. There are doubts about how many Hindi teachers are available at the school or college level,” a student remarked. This shortage of teachers is creating significant obstacles in their education.
Parents, although quietly supportive of the students’ cause, have not openly expressed their frustration. “There is a lot of suppressed anger among the parents, but no one wants to bring it out in the open,” a parent shared anonymously.
Despite being aware of the situation, officials from the state government’s education department are accused of misleading the minister. “The officials know what’s happening, but they are not addressing the issue properly,” a student leader claimed.
