Motha seeks Tripura CM’s intervention to allow both Roman, Bengali scripts in Kokborok exams

Opposition leader Animesh Debbarma, in a letter to Saha, requested the government to intervene immediately. The Kokborok language, Debbarma said, has been taught as an elective paper in degree colleges since 2012 and that the students studying in colleges affiliated to the central Tripura University and MBB University (a state university) are given options to write the language in either Roman or Bengali script. The question papers are also set in both the scripts, he added.

“In the year 2019-2020 and 2021-2022 the Directorate of Higher Education, Government of Tripura, carried out a survey to find out the preference of script in writing Kokborok language by the students. For your kind information, in the year 2019-2020, out of 6,649 students opting for Kokborok language, 6,643 opted for Roman script (99.9%) and 6 opted for Bengali script (0.09%)… For the year 2021-2022, out of 9,147 students opting for Kokborok language, 9,143 opted for Roman script (99.95%) and 4 opted for Bengali script (0.04%),” the letter reads.

Debbarma also wrote that barring two Bengali speakers, all of the nearly 330 Kokborok postgraduates had written their answers in Roman script, adding that since the establishment of the Kokborok department at Tripura University in 2015, question papers for the MA entrance test and semester exams are set in both the scripts.

He wrote that the Tripura Public Service Commission conducted an examination for assistant professors in Kokborok last year in Roman script. General instructions and questions for the Tripura State Rifles recruitment exam held in 2021 were set both in Roman and Bengali scripts, he further wrote, adding that Roman script was also used in last year’s police constable recruitment ad published in Kokborok.

Even the National Testing Agency and the Tripura State Academy of Tribal Culture set question papers for MA in Kokborok only in Roman script, Debbarma wrote.

“The National Education Policy (NEP) of India 2020 aims to ensure that no child loses any opportunity to learn and excel because of the circumstances of birth and background. The policy allows mother tongue to be used as a medium of instruction… However, the direction issued by the Directorate of Kokborok & Other Minority Languages to the CBSE/TBSE to prepare Kokborok language sample question papers/question papers only in Bengali script is nothing but depriving the Kokborok-speaking students and is against the NEP,” read the letter signed by Debbarma.

Kokborok is the lingua franca of the majority of 19 tribal communities in the state. While the language has a long history, is recognised as an official language of the state under the three-language policy, and has acceptance among other tribal communities as well, it is yet to have its own script. Till now, Bengali and Roman scripts are used for writing the language.

Since the first BJP-led government was formed in 2018, there has been a push for introducing Devanagari or Hindi script, even as political parties, students, language activists and cultural workers are up in arms saying the move will not be tolerated and that it will disturb language dynamics in the region.

In March, Chief Minister Saha said his government was ready to prepare a new script for Kokborok.