Page 18 - EW March 2025

Education News

class XII exams. The strain of holding Hindi on Tamil Nadu and Dravidian
four school-leaving exams per year states of southern India. Therefore in
will prove unbearable for the school 2021, the DMK government rejected
system weakened by continuous un- NEP 2020 in toto and constituted
der-investment in public education a committee under Justice (Retd.)
and official and unofficial ceilings on D. Murugesan to formulate an
tuition fees of private schools. Unable independent State Education Policy
to build sufficient infrastructure and (SEP). The Murugesan Committee’s
recruit larger number of teachers to 600-page SEP, submitted to the TN
improve bench strength, India’s 1.10 government is under consideration.
million public and 411,421 private Meanwhile, reacting to a state-
schools have a long way before they ment of Union education minister
can adopt international practices. Dharmendra Pradhan that supple-
Autar Nehru (Delhi) mentary funds allocated to Tamil
Nadu by the Centre will be with-
TAMIL NADU held if the state government doesn’t
Damaging antagonism implement the three-language
formula, addressing the Tamil Nadu
Parents-Teachers Association’s zonal
ay by day, tamil nadu chief conference in Veppur, Cuddalore dis-
minister M.K. Stalin is step- trict on February 22, Stalin declared
Dping up his war against the that the DMK government will not government’s decision to reject NEP
BJP/NDA government at the Centre. implement it, even if offered finan- 2020 and replace it with SEP 2025
According to Stalin, the BJP leader- cial incentives of Rs.10,000 crore. has alarmed some TN educationists
ship — especially prime minister Several other mandates of the who fear “misalignment” between
Narendra Modi and Union home widely acclaimed NEP 2020 have the state and national school curricu-
minister Amit Shah — is hell-bent been rejected by the state govern- lums. “With most states implement-
upon imposing Hindi — the lingua ment. Among them: a proposal to ing NEP 2020 reforms, our students
franca of the socio-economically introduce public examinations in are certain to experience difficul-
backward BIMARU (Bihar, Mad- classes III, V, and VIII, as well as a ties in writing competitive national
hya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar common entrance test for admis- exams such as JEE and NEET in
Pradesh) states and decreed by the sions to arts and science colleges. which questions and assessments are
Constitution as the official language The DMK government believes these based on the curriculums of national
of India (a proposition vehemently measures will increase dropout rates CBSE and CISCE exam boards,” says
opposed by successive governments and reduce access to socio-econom- former Director of Matriculation
of Tamil Nadu since 1965) — upon ically disadvantaged students. To Schools, A. Karuppasamy.
the state. this add the three-language formula his viewpoint is endorsed by
In particular, the state’s rul- which is being interpreted as covert TAdvocate M.J. John Arokia
ing DMK party voted to power in “Hindi imperialism” challenging Prabhu, Vice President of the Tamil
2021 is determined to stick with Tamil Nadu’s long-standing two-lan- Nadu Private Schools Association
the two-language learning policy in guages policy of Tamil and English. and head of the legal team of the
the state’s 37,387 government and On the other hand, Pradhan has Delhi-based National Independent
aided schools disregarding the Na- defended NEP 2020 as a progres- Schools Alliance (NISA). “School-
tional Education Policy (NEP) 2020 sive, flexible, and inclusive policy leavers will be disadvantaged when
mandate of all children countrywide designed to modernise education competing for admission into higher
learning three languages, “with at across India. According to Pradhan, ed institutions outside Tamil Nadu.
least two being Indian languages”. NEP 2020 mandates that children If Central universities and institu-
NEP 2020 is silent about Eng- should learn any three languages and tions align their admissions process-
lish, the associate national language doesn’t specify Hindi. BJP leaders es with NEP 2020, TN students will
linking all state governments and believe that Stalin’s anti-Centre/ be at a disadvantage when applying
the language of the upper judiciary BJP and Tamil pride rhetoric reflects for courses outside the state. More-
and business and commerce. DMK nervousness about the outcome of over, the state’s continuous opposi-
and Stalin have interpreted the Tamil Nadu’s assembly election due tion to children learning Hindi will
three-languages learning mandate to be held early next year. disadvantage our students seeking
of NEP 2020 as covert imposition of Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu government jobs and employment in

18 EDUCATIONWORLD MARCH 2025