With Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the dais, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin Friday made a strong pitch to bring back education to the State List from the Concurrent List of the Constitution to enable the state governments to carry forward their duty of “imparting the wealth” of education.
Stalin made the remarks at the convocation ceremony of the Gandhigram Rural Institute in Dindigul, 430 km from here, while flaunting the state’s performance in the education sector. Stalin said Tamil Nadu was the “best state” in terms of imparting higher education to students in the country with 22 universities being funded by the state government.
He said the DMK government, after assuming office in May 2021, has introduced various schemes to encourage students to opt for higher education. Assistance of Rs 1,000 per month to government school students who complete their plus-two and join a UG or a diploma course, and horizontal reservation of 7.5 per cent to government school students in professional courses are some of the schemes, he said.
“Education is the only asset that can never be snatched by anyone under any situation. It is the duty of a state government to impart the wealth of education. Hence, I appeal to the Union Government, to support and encourage such efforts of the state government, by bringing back Education, under the State list,” Stalin told the Prime Minister.
He also said education was originally placed on the State List when the Constitution was framed but was moved to the concurrent list, only during the period of Emergency. “I request that the Union Government, especially Hon'ble Prime Minister, shall attempt to move education back to the State List,” Stalin added.
The DMK has been urging the Union Government to bring back education to the State list, citing the introduction of NEET as an example. In his speech, Stalin also underlined the historic connection that Mahatma Gandhi enjoyed with Tamil Nadu.
“Gandhiji who came to Tamil Nadu 26 times had evinced interest in learning Tamil. Besides affixing his signature in Tamil, Gandhiji said he wanted to learn Tamil just to read Thirukkural. He also said people in north India should learn at least one south Indian language and that should be Tamil,” Stalin said.
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