Chief Minister Prof. Dr. Manik Saha today said that the state government has taken various important steps for the development of the Kokborok language.
He said that for this, the Department of Kokborok and Other Minority Languages has undertaken a project to conduct a language mapping of teachers and students of all schools in the state of Tripura, and this work will be completed soon.
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.
“The Department of Kokborok and Other Minority Languages has undertaken a project to conduct a language mapping of teachers and students of all schools in the state of Tripura, and this work will be completed soon. The main objective of this mapping is to identify the exact language profile of the teachers and students in the state. This exercise will help in identifying the exact status of students enrolled in schools and the exact profile of Kokborok-speaking teachers in those schools,” he said.
The Chief Minister shared this information regarding the development of the Kokborok language during the first half of the third day of the winter session of the Tripura Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.
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 establishments 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.
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