Supporters of Bangali Chhatra Yuva Samaj hit city streets in Agartala on Saturday on multiple demands including transformation of the present education system into a job oriented system, denouncement of imposition of Hindi under the New Education Policy and suppression of Bengali language, culture and customs.
The students’ body brought out a rally today and raised slogans in support of demands.
Speaking to the media, Central Secretary of the Bengali Students’ wing, Tapomoy Biswas criticized the New Education Policy (NEP) introduced by the Union Government. He blamed the previous Left Front government for making ‘Bengali’ an ‘additional’ subject at the School level.
The Bengali Student leader also demanded cent percent assurance of job after completion of education – in this context, Biswas demanded block-level planning for creating a job-oriented education system.
Other Bengali student leaders present in the rally also slammed the NEP and raised voices against commercialization and privatization of education system. They demanded immediate steps against such steps.
Biswas vehemently opposed imposition of Hindi and lamented that in most of the sign boards in Agartala, Bengali scripts have been given less importance. He demanded the Government to take steps within seven days to replace the sign boards giving prominence to Bengali scripts.
Notably, the Bangali organizations were demanding use of the Bengali scripts in Rail stations, government offices and other institutions as Bengali was the Rajbhasa and is the State language in Tripura.
Tapomoy Biswas also alleged Bengali culture and customs, apart from language, are also suppressed. He made sure that stopping suppression of Bengali culture does not mean undermining other cultures. Biswas also denounced the political attempts to create a division between the Bengalis and indigenous people of Tripura.
