The rally was held at the Shaheed Minar premises in the city following an “Alphabet Parade of All Ethnic Groups,” organised by Greater Chittagong Hill Tracts Hill Student’s Council. The organisers put forth their five-point demand including introduction of school textbooks in the languages of all ethnic groups in Bangladesh. The National Curriculum and Textbook Board this year distributed 52,000 free textbooks in Chakma, Marma, Garo, Sadri and Tripura languages among around 25,000 students. As per the 1997 CHT Accord, the government was supposed to provide primary education to the indigenous children in their mother languages. Addressing the rally, Chittagong University (CU) Associate Professor Md Amir Uddin said while textbooks were printed in five indigenous languages, adequate teaching staff was not ensured at the institutions to support that move.

Source: Dhaka Tribune February 17, 2017 19:33 UTC