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subjects accorded minimal attention. in Chennai in 2021
In the circumstances the Supreme has not reacted to this
Court’s Solomon-like judgment man- proposal. Given its de-
dating that the UP madrasas pay equal clared antipathy to NEP
attention to secular subjects offers a 2020 — in June 2022
level playing field for children of In- the state government
dia’s 250 million-strong Muslim com- appointed a commis-
munity. sion chaired by Justice
Vidya Pandit (Lucknow) (Retd.) D. Murugesan
to formulate Tamil
TAMIL NADU Nadu’s independent
Public interest veil SEP (State Education
Policy), which submit-
ted a 600-page report
he association of univer- PSG College of Arts & Science: deemed varsity applicant? — the incumbent DMK
sity Teachers (AUT) which government is unlikely
Trepresents higher education private universities are not obliged to to support privatisation of aided
faculty across Tamil Nadu (pop.89 practice affirmative action, privati- varsities. Tamil Nadu’s DMK govern-
million), has formally urged the sation would deny scheduled caste, ment has consistently criticised the
state government to reject propos- scheduled tribe and OBC students NEP 2020 for promoting “Hindi
als for converting government-aided concessional access to higher educa- imperialism” as also centralisation,
private colleges into autonomous tion. “Aided colleges exist to ensure privatisation, and “commercialisa-
private universities. Encouraged by affordable and inclusive education. tion” of education on the ground that
provisions of the National Education Converting them to private universi- privatisation will adversely affect
Policy (NEP) 2020 which advises ties would betray this purpose,” says students from EWS (economically
phased conversion of all universities Bala Murugan. weaker sections), depriving them of
and undergrad colleges towards au- On the other hand, proponents affordable education.
tonomous status, 15 of Tamil Nadu’s of privatisation highlight that NEP However, according to indepen-
163 government-aided colleges have 2020 specifically encourages self- dent educationists, AUT’s opposition
applied for private university status, financed and aided colleges to apply to privatisation of higher education
says AUT President M.S. Bala for private university status in the is driven by self-interest rather than
Murugan, professor of English at interest of improving teaching-learn- professed concern for EWS students.
the state government-aided National ing standards and learning out- It’s well-known that the faculty
College, Trichy. comes. According to reliable sources, of government — especially state
“Tamil Nadu has 163 government- PSG College of Arts and Science government-run — colleges and uni-
aided private colleges, and some (Coimbatore), Thiagarajar College versities enjoy “huge salaries” with
of them are seeking to convert into (Madurai), Krishnammal College for almost no responsibility for students
private universities under the Union Women (Coimbatore), and St. Jo- learning outcomes, and especially
government’s NEP 2020. These seph’s College (Trichy) have applied employability. “Contemporary
institutions are attempting to secure for private deemed university status. India’s huge — and growing — edu-
no-objection certificates from the This is not the first time such a cated unemployed problem is mainly
Tamil Nadu government. If permit- proposal has been met with resis- the consequence of state government
ted, thousands of underprivileged tance. In 2008, when the ruling — India’s 56 Central government
students will be negatively impact- Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) universities are far superior — facul-
ed,” wrote AUT vice president P. was in power, a similar attempt to ty, often recruited on caste consider-
Thirunavukkarasu, in a letter to grant deemed university status to ations, working in ivory towers with
the state’s higher education minister aided colleges was thwarted after no connect with industry dispens-
Dr. Govi Chezhiaan. public protests. Then chief minister ing obsolete learning. Institutional
According to AUT, conversion of and DMK supremo M. Karunanidhi autonomy and privatisation would
private aided colleges into private stalled the proposal, prioritising necessarily demand greater ac-
(deemed) universities will result in equitable education access over insti- countability from them. Hence their
higher tuition fees, limiting access to tutional autonomy. vehement opposition to this proposal
education for economically disad- The incumbent DMK government which is necessary and overdue,”
vantaged students, and jeopardise (headed by Karunanidhi’s son M.K. says a dispassionate faculty member
the rights of faculty. Moreover as Stalin) which was returned to power of a government university, speaking

DECEMBER 2024 EDUCATIONWORLD 21