AGARTALA: Tripura Minister Ratan Lal Nath said on Sunday that the state government was trying to get the Kokborok language included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
“In our country, 22 languages are recognized by the Constitution. Our priority is to include Kokborok in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. It’s our demand,” Nath said while addressing the main event to mark the 46th Kokborok Diwas at Rabindra Shatabarshiki Bhawan in Agartala.
In a veiled criticism of the erstwhile Left Front government, Nath stated that no initiative was taken to develop the language before 2018. “We named Gandacherra as Ganda Tuisa and Baramura as Hatai Kotor to promote the Kokborok language. Now one can even pursue a PhD in the Kokborok language,” he said.
“If a mother tongue is lost, then a society is lost. We can express ourselves more in our mother tongue than in any other language. That’s why our prime minister is giving importance to the mother tongue,” Nath added.
Nath stated that they have created 22 posts for Kokborok faculty in colleges and also used the language for the Teachers’ Eligibility Test, among others. He further said that Kokborok is being taught in 1,163 schools from Classes 1 to 5, 133 schools from Classes 6 to 8, 115 schools in Classes 9 and 10, and 65 schools in Classes 11 and 12. Nearly 10,000 students are currently learning the language.
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