‘Cultural injustice’: Pradyot opposes exclusion of Roman script from Kokborok syllabus

Expressing concerned on the Sub-Committee for Syllabus Upgrading and Restructuring of Kokborok Textbooks for Classes IX to XII, which states that literary works in the Roman script will not be accepted in the updated syllabus, the royal scion Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma said that TIPRA Motha Party stands united in the demand and believes that resolving issues is essential for the protection, preservation, and growth of Kokborok language.

In a statement, Pradyot said that the demand for the use of the Roman script for Kokborok is a long-standing and widely supported aspiration of the indigenous people of Tripura. The majority of native Kokborok speakers have consistently expressed their preference for the Roman script, as it aligns more naturally with the phonetics, syllabic structure, and vocabulary of the Kokborok language.

“We, the TIPRA Motha Party, have been vocal advocates for the adoption of the Roman script for Kokborok and continue to stand firmly by this demand. We disagree with recent proposals by certain organisations advocating for the inclusion of Kokborok in the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution with either or only Devanagari or Bengali as its official script. Precedents have already been set by other indigenous languages in the Northeast, such as Mizo in Mizoram, and Garo, Khasi, and Jaintia in Meghalaya, as well as Nagamese in Nagaland, all of which officially use the Roman script for their languages, even without 8th Schedule recognition. These examples affirm that script choice is within the jurisdiction of the state government ad can be determined independently of central legislation. We therefore urge the Government of Tripura to formally adopt the Roman script for Kokborok, in alignment with the cultural, educational, and linguistic realities of the indigenous people of Tripura”, he said.

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Pradyot said that a  related longstanding concern is the exclusive use of Bengali script for Kokborok in CBSE and TBSE examination papers. 

“Notably, CBSE has allowed bilingual question papers (in English and Bengali) for 96 Vidyajyoti schools in our state to accommodate students more comfortable with Bengali. To uphold fairness and justice, the same flexibility must be extended to Kokborok students, whose demand has remained unaddressed for decades. We are also concerned by the recent decision of the Sub-Committee for Syllabus Upgrading and Restructuring of Kokborok Textbooks for Classes IX to XII, which states that literary works in the Roman script will not be accepted in the updated syllabus. This decision needs reconsideration, as it overlooks the linguistic reality of the state, where the majority of Kokborok literature is written and published in Roman script. TIPRA Motha Party stands united in this demand and believes that resolving these issues is essential for the protection, preservation, and growth of Kokborok””, he added.