56% Students Can’t Read Bengali: Tripura CM

TripuraChief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb has said that 56 percent of the students inClasses 3 to 8 in the state cannot read Bengali textbooks.

Deb,in a letter to the leader of the opposition Manik Sarkar had written that arecent data revealed the poor condition of the students during their formativeyears with 1,80,000 school children cannot read Bengali textbook.

The Chief Minister wrote, "The students should have learnt Bengali by Class 2. Also, 70 percent of students can't do division in Mathematics which they should have learnt in Class 3."

The CMfurther stated that the BJP government is struggling with the legacy of yearsof systematized and institutionalized neglect of quality education which gotreflected in the data.

Deb hadwritten the letter to his predecessor after Sarkar hit out at Deb over reportsof privatization in management of schools and mid-day meals in some areas. He saidthat the schools were shut due to zero enrolment and that they have decided toallow a charitable trust to use these assets to establish English mediumschools. But neither land nor buildings have been leased out.

Deb,while hitting out at Sarkar said that even the students in Classes 10 and 12were struggling with the archaic syllabus which is not in tandem with theadvanced syllabi in other parts of the country. He also said that the future ofthe children have been specified at the altar of political ideology andposturing.

The CMfurther stated that the fees of 25 percent of the children from theeconomically weaker section will be reimbursed under the Rights to EducationAct adding that the examination system based on the grace mark has made thestudents dull and deprived them of providing inputs to be ready for competitiveexams.