Poor results in Vidyajyoti Schools ignite political controversy in Tripura

The poor performance of the first batch of Class 10 and 12 students from 125 schools under the Vidyajyoti Scheme has sparked a political controversy in Tripura.

These schools, previously affiliated with the Tripura Board of Secondary Education (TBSE), were converted to English medium and affiliated with CBSE after the BJP came to power.

The recently announced CBSE results showed pass percentages of 61% for Class 10 and 55% for Class 12.

Additionally, 32% and 22% of students from these respective classes have been placed in the compartment category, eligible for improvement exams.

The underwhelming performance of many renowned schools, including those in Agartala, has led to criticism from opposition parties, CPIM and Congress, who blame the BJP for the bleak situation.
Chief Minister Manik Saha, who also serves as the Education Minister, acknowledged the subpar performance of Vidyajyoti schools.

He announced plans to convene a meeting with Education Department officials to address the issue.
CM Saha said, “I have heard about it, I have seen in newspapers also. I have gathered all the information and very shortly I will call a meeting, I will talk to our officials, how it can be sorted out and what is the reason behind it. Everything will be sorted out.”

Opposition Leader and CPIM state secretary Jitendra Chowdhury accused former Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and ex-Education Minister Ratanlal Nath of compromising with the future lives of the students.

“All of a sudden half of these (Bengali medium) schools have been converted to the English medium under the CBSE. They are writing their board examinations in English. But these students right from the beginning at the primary level and other subsequent levels, their medium of instruction was Bengali. But all of a sudden at the Class 10 level or Class 12 level, how will they be able to write in English. So this result is the outcome of that filthy sort of planning by the then Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and then Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath. This generation ought to suffer out of that,” Jitendra Choudhury said.

Congress senior leader Sudip Roy Barman alleged financial discrepancies and called for an investigation.
Roy Barman, a former Minister and MLA accused former CM Biplab Kumar Deb, Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath, and certain officials in the name of NGOs misused funds intended for teacher training, book printing, and other services under the Vidyajyoti scheme.

“My humble request to the CM will be, please form a committee comprising of some educationists, those who will go deep into the process. If you want to impement CBSE, it has to be implemented right from nursery, primary, upper primary, secondary and after that higher secondary. Best is when monetary benefits haunt the ministers and officers and after that you forget the interests of the students. There is a huge monetary gain publication of books, there is also a huge monetary interests in the name of NGOs from Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and one more supposedly from Delhi. My question would be to the CM, huge amount of money was spent, so is this the outcome of the Vidya Jyoti scheme?,” Roy Barman stated.

BJP spokesperson Subrata Chakraborty defended the government’s efforts, claiming that the highlighted results were selective and not indicative of all schools’ performances.

He acknowledged the need for improvement and stated that the government is organizing special classes for students who will be taking the improvement exams to boost the pass rate.

Meanwhile, the CPI(M)-backed Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and Tripura Students’ Union (TSU) protested at the Education Department’s headquarters, Siksha Bhavan, over the poor performance.
Sujit Tripura, one of the protesters, attributed the poor results to the unplanned switch from Bengali to English medium and a shortage of qualified teachers.