Ruckus over English

Agartala, Sept. 7: The spectre of English has yet again risen to haunt the Left Front government of Tripura, leading to a serious dispute with Tripura (central) University.
Coming at a time when English is fast emerging as global lingua franca, the controversy has sparked conflicting reactions among students and guardians with the minister for higher education Anil Sarkar branding Tripura University’s decision to impose English as the medium of instruction in honours course at college level a “global conspiracy to destroy indigenous language and culture”.
Responding to the charge, the vice-chancellor of Tripura University, Prof. Arunoday Saha, said before the commencement of the current academic year, the academic council of the university had taken a unanimous decision that English should be the medium of teaching and examinations only at honours level in colleges across the state in keeping with the academic norms followed by all universities.