TIPRA Motha seek Govt’s statement on allowing Kokborok in board exam

Agartala, Feb 12: The first day of the indefinite protest by the Tipra Indigenous Students Federation (TISF), concluded peacefully on Monday, with no untoward incidents reported till 5 pm.

Normal life and movement of vehicles and trains were affected by the agitation in different parts of the State. In Agartala city, public life was not affected. The student wing of opposition party ‘TIPRA Motha’ has called for the stir demanding Roman script be allowed in board exam to write Kokborok subject.

A major stir was reported from West Tripura district, where protestors were seen burning tyres and shouting slogans demanding justice for the tribal students. Protesters blocked the railway line across several parts of the State. The NH-8 is the lifeline of Tripura which also has a lone railway line connecting it with the rest of India, which was affected in the protest.

Opposition leader Animesh Debbarma from TIPRA Motha said, “Government should come up with a statement allowing Roman script to write Kokborok subject. We will continue with the agitation unless and until the government gives us assurance.”

Debbarma further said, “Our student have been given the option to write Kokborok subject in Roman and Bengali in the past. We have no issues as far as giving option to our students, however, we feel that our student can express better with Roman script to write Kokborok subject”.

“We appeal to the government to allow our students to write the exam in either Bengali or Roman, imposing our student to appear in Bengali will affect them, as most of the student prefer writing Kokborok in Roman script,” he added.

Vice President of TISF John Debbarma said, “The agitation has received tremendous support from the public. It is sad that government has failed to respect our aspiration. We will continue with our protest unless the issue is resolved amicably”.

General Secretary of Tripura Student Federation Hammalo Jamatia said, “We are open for dialogue with the government. Our students are demanding for their rights. Government should not force our students to write in any particular script. We urge the government to give choice for the students to write Kokborok in Roman script”. He also said that 99 per cent of the students in the tribal belt of Tripura are comfortable with the usage of Roman for writing Kokborok language.

Dipali Debbarma, a mother of student, who took part in the agitation to extend support, said, “Our demand is to allow Roman script for writing our language. The government has been biased to disallow the use of Roman for writing Kokborok. We want our rights to be restored, or we will continue with our protest”.

In the past, either Roman or Bengali script was allowed by the Tripura board to write Kokborok language. Over 5000 plus students will be appearing in Class 10 and Class 12 board from March 1. They want to write their answer scripts for the ‘Kokborok’ language in Roman script instead of Bengali. The issue also recently rocked the Tripura Assembly session.

The agitation comes in wake of Tripura Board of Secondary Education (TBSE) President Dr. Dhananjay Ganchoudhury stating that students taking Kokborok exam will be permitted to use only the Bengali script.

Kokborok, is a Sino-Tibetan language of the Bodo-Garo branch, spoken in Tripura. It is similar to the Bodo and Dimasa language spoken in the State of Assam and Meghalaya. The origin of the word comes from kok meaning “verbal” and borok meaning “people”. Kokborok consists of several dialects spoken in the State of Tripura.

It is an official language of Tripura State notified on January 19, 1979. The autonomous council had declared Kokborok as the official language in the autonomous district council on April 20, 1999.

The Borok or Tripuris are the branch of Bodo people of Assam belonging to the Sino-Tibetan linguistic group and racially Mongoloids. The British Historians has recognized this people as Tibeto-Burmese linguistic group.

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