Will not bow down to any indirect pressure: Tamil Nadu govt on language policy

School Education Minister A Rajmohan said that there was absolutely no room for any compromise on the two-language policy, which is one of the founding principles of the TVK.

Chennai: Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday said it will not be “intimidated by any indirect pressure” from the Union Government on the implementation of PM SHRI scheme, while asserting that there will be no compromise on the state’s two-language formula of Tamil and English.

School Education Minister A Rajmohan said the Centre has not released funds to the tune of Rs 2,200 crore to the state under the Samagra Siksha scheme for not signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for implementing PM SHRI (Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India) scheme.

The previous DMK government not merely refused to sign the MoU but allotted funds from its exchequer to compensate for the amount withheld by the Union Government under the SS scheme for refusing to implement the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

“It is sad that the funds meant for students are not being released for the past two years. We cannot accept this kind of behaviour. At the same time, we won’t be intimidated by any indirect pressure,” Rajmohan told reporters, in response to a question on the PM-SHRI scheme and pending dues from the Centre.

He added that there was absolutely no room for any compromise on the two-language policy, which is one of the founding principles of the TVK.

“Two-language policy of Tamil and English is more than enough. Even when Lee Kuan Yew rebuilt Singapore, he laid stress on English for outside communication. That’s why we feel Tamil and English are enough for students,” the minister said.

Rajmohan’s statement assumes significance in the wake of the Centre sending a reminder to the Tamil Nadu government on joining the PM-SHRI scheme.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Dr K G Arunraj said Tamil Nadu will not accept NEET for medical admissions and the state will continue to oppose it as it discriminates against students from rural areas.

Tamil Nadu has been following a two-language policy since 1968 after the then Chief Minister C N Annadurai said learning Hindi was redundant as English was enough for Tamils to interact with the world. The policy was proposed by Annadurai on January 23, 1968 on the floor of Madras Assembly and after a three-day debate, the House adopted a resolution scrapping the three-language formula.

The state’s opposition to NEP is on multiple counts including the language policy. Immediately after the NEP was released in 2020, the then AIADMK government made it clear that it would not accept the policy. Though the NEP says the third language could be any Indian language, the state sees it is a ploy to impose Hindi through the back-door.

Other reasons for opposing the NEP include a uniform national policy on education, a subject on the Concurrent List of the Constitution and the proposed four-year undergraduate programmes with multiple exit options, which the state believes, would lead to drop-outs. Tamil Nadu thinks the NEP will be disadvantageous to students from marginalised sections.