Agartala, March 28: Legislators from Tipra Motha raised a storm of protest in the assembly today against being forced to write in a specific script in the Kakbarak language test. Inspite of the promise of action by the Education Department’s Acting Minister and Chief Minister Professor (Dr.) Manik Saha to investigate the matter, they continued to protest in the well. As a result, the principal was forced to adjourn the meeting for 10 minutes due to the uproar.
Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly today Animesh Debbarma brought an attention-grabbing notice about making it mandatory to write in specific script in the Higher Secondary Kakbarak language examination conducted by Tripura Madhya Shiksha Parshad 2023. In response to that notice, the acting minister of the education department and the chief minister Professor (Dr.) Manik Saha said that on March 17 and 18, the Kakbarak language test of the higher secondary and secondary examinations conducted by the Tripura Madhya Shiksha Parshad was completed. A news report has been published in some newspapers that students are forced to write answer sheets in a specific font in this exam. The Department of School Education inquired about the complaints about the use of fonts in various examination centers and found no truth in the news.
Moreover, Tripura Board of Secondary Education has been asked for its opinion on the matter. It has been informed that since the beginning, the board has been preparing the Kakbarak language question papers in Bengali script and it has been seen that the candidates are also using Bengali script while writing the answer papers of this subject. However, during the evaluation of the Kakbarak language answer sheets of the 2022 secondary and higher secondary exams last year, it was found that only 55 out of a total of 3235 Kakbarak language candidates in the secondary and only 45 out of a total of 2605 Kakbarak language candidates in the higher secondary examination used Roman letters while writing their answer sheets. In total, only 1.71% of the examinees wrote the answer sheet using Roman letters in both secondary and higher secondary. The answer sheets of the students using Roman script were also evaluated with equal importance as usual in the interest of the candidates, said the Chief Minister.
To be honest, the Tripura Board of Madhya Shiksha Parshad did not put any pressure on the candidates this year like last year about which script they should use while writing the answer sheet of Kakbarak language exam. However Tripura Board of Secondary Education will be requested to look into the matter.
The MLAs of Tipra Matha expressed their dissatisfaction with this reply of the Chief Minister. Opposition leader Animesh Devabarma said that Swapan Kol, the official in charge of examination in Taidu Higher Secondary School, cleared the candidates that the answer sheets cannot be written in Roman letters. As a result, candidates submitted blank answer sheets. He demanded to retake the exam of 45 such candidates. Ampinagar MLA Pathan Lal Jamatia claims that he has looked into all the news. Candidates are forced to take the exam in fixed font without any written instructions.
Meanwhile, opposition leaders have come out against the education department sending a letter regarding the use of Bengali script in the Kakbarak language test conducted by CBSE. He said, canceling that letter by March 31 and informing that the exam can be given in Roman script, otherwise CBSE will register only Bengali script. He questioned the necessity of the letter even though there is a provision to conduct the examination in both Roman and Bengali script in Tripura rules. CPM’s council leader Jitendra Chowdhury also stood up in support of the opposition leader at that time. According to him, the letter should be canceled as soon as possible and the CBSE should be informed about both Bengali and Roman letters.
After listening to all the issues of the opposition, the Chief Minister assured to investigate and take necessary action. But, the MLAs of Tipra Matha expressed their displeasure and started protesting at the well. The assembly session became heated with the slogans of the MLAs of Tipra Matha led by the leader of the opposition party. As a result, the obliging principal Bishwabandhu Sen adjourned the meeting for 10 minutes. After the session resumed, the Leader of the Opposition raised the same issue again. Then Transport Minister Sushanta Chowdhury said that the Chief Minister has assured to investigate and take action. In this case, action should not be taken without investigation. After that, the legislators of Tipra Matha stopped the debate on the matter.
