TUKS demands better education facilities for Janjati students

BY TC News Desk

Agartala, 7^th February 2024 :   A delegation of Tripura Upajati Karmachari Samiti (TUKS), a tribal employees’ association, met with Rabindra Debbarma, the Executive Member of the Autonomous District Council’s (ADC) Education Department on Wednesday to voice their concerns and demands regarding the education of Janjati students.

The delegation, led by Nityananda Debbarma, the Chairperson of the Central Advisory Committee of TUKS, and initiated by the Khumulung Divisional Committee of the association, handed over a memorandum containing four points of demand to the ADC official.

The demands are: Reopening of the closed Janjati hostels in Shillong, Meghalaya, where many tribal students from Tripura pursue higher education; Establishment of hostels for the study of Janjati students in major cities across India, such as Delhi, Kolkata, Guwahati, Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad, where they can access better educational opportunities and facilities; Setting up of one residential English medium school under each School Inspectorate of ADC, to provide quality education to the tribal students in their own areas; and Publication of books in Roman script for ADC schools, to facilitate the learning of the tribal languages and culture.

The memorandum also urged the ADC to prevent any incidents that may hamper the education of Janjati students in the future and to pay the dues of the students within 15 working days of the application.

In addition, the delegation also demanded that the ADC administration appoint the tutors, who were recently hired for one year to fill the shortfall in the number of teachers, as Daily Rated Workers (DRW) or fixed salary employees instead of temporary tutors.

The meeting was attended by several representatives of TUKS, including Vice-President Shambhuram Debbarma, Additional General Secretary Rebati Debbarma, Deputy General Secretary Hemendra Debbarma, Chief Organizing Secretary Jayanta Debbarma, and TUKS Khumulwng Divisional Committee President and Secretary Subrata Debbarma and Lewis Debbarma.