Agartala, Jan 15, 2025, TRIPURA TIMES Desk

Agartala, Jan 15: The state government has launched an initiative to conduct a comprehensive language mapping of all teachers and students in schools across the state.

Announcing the initiative on the last day of the Tripura Legislative Assembly’s Winter Session, Chief Minister Dr, Manik Saha emphasized that the primary goal of the initiative is to ensure accurate knowledge of teachers and students about their mother tongue.

The Chief Minister said, this mapping will help identify the status of the students whose mother tongue is Kokborok and a real picture of available teachers having knowledge in Kokborok.

The Chief Minister announced this in reply to a calling attention notice moved by MLA Biswajit Kalai and informed the House that the Kokborok and other minority language departments would soon complete the initiative.

Dr. Saha, who is also the Education Minister of the state, stated that for the overall development of the Kokborok language, the Kokborok and Other Minority Languages Department is organizing various workshops, seminars, teacher training, and educational programs from time to time.  

Providing additional details, Dr. Saha said that Kokborok is taught as one of the subjects in 1,163 schools from Class I to V at the primary level, 133 schools from Class VI to VIII at the secondary level, 115 schools from Class IX to X at the secondary level, and 65 schools from Class XI to XII at the higher secondary level.  

In addition, Kokborok is taught as one of the subjects in 191 state government-run schools at the primary level, 972 TTAADC-run schools, 115 state government-run schools (TBSE and CBSE) at the secondary level, and 65 state government-run schools (TBSE and CBSE) at the higher secondary level.  

The Chief Minister mentioned that Kokborok has been introduced as a language subject in Class I in an additional 20 schools from the academic year 2024–25.  

 “After the establishment of the Kokborok and Other Minority Languages Department in 2012, this department started printing Kokborok textbooks for Classes IX to XII. Since the establishment of this department, textbooks for Classes IX to XII have been provided free of cost to schools by the Kokborok and Other Minority Languages Department. At present, Kokborok textbooks are being prepared for Classes I to VIII by the Department of Kokborok and Other Minority Languages, and these textbooks are being printed and distributed free of cost to schools by SCERT. A total of 59 literary books in Kokborok have been published by this department. From 2018 to 2024, 26 literary books in Kokborok have been published by this department,” he said.  

The Chief Minister added that for the convenience of Kokborok language teachers, the Department of Kokborok and Other Minority Languages published a "Teacher's Handbook (Sarpustika)" for Kokborok language from Classes III to XII in 2022.  

 “From 2018 to 2024, 16 workshops, seminars, teacher training, and educational programs in Kokborok language have been organized. Since the establishment of the department in 2012, a total of 34 workshops, seminars, teacher training, and educational programs have been organized in the Kokborok language. In this context, it is worth mentioning that a three-day workshop was organized from 10 to 12 July 2024 at the initiative of the Kokborok and Other Minority Languages Department to upgrade the Kokborok dialect vocabulary,” said Dr. Saha.  

The second batch of the online Kokborok learning course will start very soon in a newly built digital classroom. Another Kokborok learning course is being conducted by the Department of Kokborok and Other Minority Languages for professionals working at Umakanta Academy, Agartala.  

He further mentioned that, in collaboration with SIPARD, Kokborok learning has been launched for newly inducted TCS/TPS officers.