Agartala, February 03, 2024: In a significant development, an FIR was filed on Saturday against Dr. Dhananjay Gan Chowdhury, President of Tripura Board of Secondary Education (TBSE), for purportedly discriminating against indigenous students. The complaint alleges that Dr. Chowdhury violated the rights of these students by attempting to enforce the use of Bengali script for the Kokborok language answer scripts in the upcoming board exams.

The FIR, lodged at the New Capital Complex Police Station, coincided with a separate complaint filed by a group of tribal students with the Chairperson of the Tripura State Human Rights Commission. The students claim that TBSE, which has not explicitly specified the script for Kokborok, is now compelling the use of Bengali script in the exams.

Tensions regarding the script for Kokborok have been brewing in Tripura, with a faction of tribal individuals affiliated with the opposition TIPRA Motha advocating for the Roman script. However, the ruling BJP has not been in agreement with this proposal.

Vice President of Twipra Student’s Federation, John Debbarma, alleged that despite Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha’s assurance that no student was instructed to use Bengali script for Kokborok, TBSE is going against this directive. A request to print Kokborok language question papers in both Roman and Bengali scripts was submitted in September 2022, followed by discussions, including in the legislative assembly. However, no action has been taken on this request.

Debbarma emphasized that 99% of students from both English and Bengali medium schools prefer the Roman script. He argued that TBSE should not impose on students something they do not want.