BY TC News Desk
Agartala, February 01: The Tripura Students Union (TSU) has submitted a memorandum to the Tripura Board of Secondary Education (TBSE), demanding the option to write Kokborok, the language of the indigenous Kokborok people, in Roman script in the secondary and higher secondary examinations. The TSU said that the current system of writing Kokborok only in Bengali script is discriminatory and unfair to the students who are more comfortable with the Roman script.
The TSU met with the TBSE officials on Thursday and presented their case, citing the examples of other states where indigenous languages are written in multiple scripts. A TSU student said that many Kokborok students, especially the female ones, are facing pressure and harassment from the teachers and the authorities to write the language only in Bengali script, which they are not familiar with. He said that this affects their performance and confidence in the exams.
The TSU also demanded that the Kokborok question papers should be printed in both Roman and Bengali scripts, so that the students can choose the one they prefer. The TSU said that this would ensure the linguistic rights and dignity of the Kokborok students, and also promote the preservation and development of the language. The TSU urged the TBSE to consider their demand and implement it from this year onwards.
