Kokborok in exams: TBSE reverses decision

TISF has announced an indefinite strike across Tripura in protest against the board's decision

Just three days after announcing that students would have the choice to answer in either Bengali or Roman script in the Kokborok examination in Tripura, President of the Tripura Board of Secondary Education (TBSE), Dr. Dhananjoy Gonchowdhury on Thursday reversed his decision regarding the language preference for examination and said that it would be mandatory to answer Kokborak subjects solely in Bengali script.

Explaining the sudden change, Dr. Gonchowdhury cited pressure and threats of violence, stating that he had been threatened with the burning of several examination centers if both script options were not allowed. Initially yielding in to these pressures and threats, he allowed the choices of Bengali or Roman script to be used in the Kokborok examination on February 5. However, he stated that his higher authorities, including the state education department, have since intervened, instructing him to revert to the previous practice of using only Bengali script for Kokborak exams.

Dr. Gonchowdhury admitted that while a limited number of students had previously answered Kokborak exams using the Roman script, this caused significant issues during evaluation.

Meanwhile, the Tipra Indigenous Students Federation (TISF) has announced an indefinite strike across Tripura in protest against the board’s decision to restrict students appearing for Kokborak language in state board examination to only using the Bengali script, eliminating the option to reply in Bengali or Roman scripts.

Sajra Debbarma, the central president of TISF expressed disappointment over the reversal of the decision.

“Just three days ago, TBSE announced that students can choose to answer in either Bengali or Roman script in the Kokborok examination, but now Dr. Gonchowdhury has taken a U-turn, reversed his decision and said that only Bengali script will be accepted. Therefore, we (TISF) decided that we will hold indefinite strike in Tripura. After meeting higher authorites of TISF, we will announce the date and time for the same,” said Sajra Debbarma.

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