Tripura govt to ask CBSE to allow tribal students to write in Roman script for 'Kokborok' exams

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha said that the state government would write to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) urging them to allow tribal students to write their answers in the 'Kokborok' subject examination either in Bengali or in Roman script.

The ‘Kokborok’ language is the mother tongue of the majority of the tribals, who constitute one third of Tripura’s little over four million population.

Opposition Tipra Motha Party (TMP) and the CPI-M members, raising the issue in the ongoing Assembly session, had been seeking the provision of allowing students to write in both Bengali and Roman script in the upcoming examinations ensuring the academic future of around 5,000 tribal students is not compromised.


The Chief Minister, who also holds the Education portfolio, informed the Assembly that a three-member committee led by former MLA Atul Debbarma, has been assigned to work out the issue.

The government is awaiting the committee’s report before taking further action, he said.

The TMP has also been spearheading agitations across Tripura demanding the introduction of the Roman script for Kokborok.

For over five decades, there has been a debate over the use of the Bengali and Roman scripts for the Kokborok language. While some Kokborok speakers favour Bengali, the majority of the tribal intellectuals and academicians advocate the Roman script. Since 1988, two commissions have been set up on the issue under tribal leader Shyama Charan Tripura and linguist and academician Pabitra Sarkar.