Tripura Leader of Opposition Jitendra Chaudhury on Saturday accused the Manikya dynasty of ignoring real education for the people of the state and criticised the Tipra Motha Party for what he called the destruction of the education system in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC).
Chaudhury alleged that Tipra Motha is prioritising script-related debates instead of focusing on strengthening education.
The CPI(M) Tripura state secretary was speaking at a programme organised to mark Jana Shiksha Diwas in Agartala.
Referring to past movements, Chaudhury said initiatives like the Jana Shiksha Andolan had played a crucial role in expanding education in the state and led to the setting up of hundreds of schools.
“Many students who studied in those schools went on to excel in their lives, bringing pride to the state and the country. Jana Shiksha was a different movement altogether. During the princely rule, illiteracy and superstition dominated Tripura. Despite having the means, the rulers made no serious effort to educate the people,” he said.
The CPI(M) leader pointed out that while grand structures such as Ujjayanta Palace and Neer Mahal were built during the Manikya regime, no comparable effort was made to spread education. “If they could bring masons from the British era to build palaces, they could have ensured education for at least a section of the population. They chose not to, because education gives people the courage to question, awareness, and freedom from superstition,” he added.
Chaudhury said that in 1948, eleven youths led by then Chief Ministers Dasharath Dev and Nripen Chakraborty launched the Jana Shiksha Andolan, which resulted in the establishment of around 400 schools, most of them in tribal areas. He said the movement transformed Tripura’s socio-cultural landscape, politics, and education system.
Targeting the Tipra Motha Party, Chaudhury said that after coming to power in the TTAADC in 2021, the party blamed the Left Front for using Bengali as the medium of instruction, claiming it had held tribal students back from competitive exams.
“They announced a shift to English medium, but over the past four years there has been no recruitment of teachers and no new schools. Instead, more than 1,000 schools have been shut down. In rural areas, nearly 95 per cent of students depend on government schools, which today have neither proper medium nor adequate teachers,” he alleged.
Chaudhury further claimed that instead of fixing the education system, the party is focusing on script-related issues to divert public attention from its failures.