Tripura News: SFI, DYFI to Stage Statewide Protest Against ‘Deteriorating’ Education and Health Services

The youth and student organizations affiliated with the CPIM in Tripura have declared a four-day protest, scheduled from May 21 to May 24, in response to the perceived decline in the state’s health and education sectors.

State secretary of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), Sandipan Deb outlined the upcoming agitation program, claiming that the agitation aims to highlight the current government’s failure to address the declining conditions of the health and education systems in Tripura as well as unabated drug menace.

In a joint press conference held in Agartala, Sandipan Deb expressed his concerns over the significant deterioration in the quality of education over the past six years. He pointed out the underperformance of the Vidyajyoti schools as a particularly troubling development.

Deb criticized the former education minister of Tripura, Ratan Lal Nath, for introducing the Vidyajyoti scheme, which aimed to transition the Tripura Board of Secondary Education (TBSE) run schools to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). He argued that the move failed owing to a severe shortage of teachers across the state, a crisis that continues to persist and has adversely affected the students.

He further lamented the lack of recruitment drives by the state education department to address the teacher shortage, despite the availability of thousands of jobless candidates who have passed B.Ed, D.El.Ed, and M.Ed examinations. He also highlighted the government’s failure to declare the results of the State Teacher’s Eligibility Test (STGT) for the past two years.

state secretary of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) Nabarun Deb joined the critique, focusing on the state’s health infrastructure. He condemned the current government for the crisis at the GBP Hospital, the state’s primary referral hospital, which is grappling with a shortage of doctors and nurses. He pointed out that thousands of qualified candidates remain unemployed under the current administration.

Nabarun Deb also accused the government of failing to control the drug menace in the state, alleging that Tripura is gradually becoming a hub for drugs, with the youth being the primary targets.

(Tripura, Tripura News)