Agartala, Jan 2 (IANS / TIWN) Tribal students from Tripura will for the first time perform their traditional dance at the Republic Day parade on January 26, an official said here on Tuesday.

"In all 150 tribal students of 25 schools from three Tripura districts will for the first time perform traditional 'Sangrai dance' in the Republic Day parade," Information and Cultural Affairs Department official Kumar Sinha told IANS.

He said the students led by 25 teachers left here on Monday for New Delhi, where they would take part in a 21-day rehearsal, supervised by the Defence Ministry.

'Sangrai dance' is performed by the 'Mog' tribal community on the occasion of Sangrai festival during the month of Chaitra (in April) of the Bengali calendar year. Young boys and girls in particular, celebrate the event through colourful cultural programmes to invite the new Bengali year.

The Mogs are one of the 19 tribes in Tripura. Tribals or Adivasis constitute a third of Tripura's 3.7 million people.

Sinha said the Tripua students are the only ones from the entire eastern region selected to perform at the Republic Day parade this year.

He said that the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre extended their help to send the Tripura dance troupe to Delhi.