Tamil Nadu asks panel to draft State Education Policy in a year

A high-level committee constituted by the Tamil Nadu government to draft the State Education Policy (SEP) has been granted a year to submit its report. The report will contain suggestions to improve the quality of research in Higher Education Institutions (HEI) and to ensure all school pass outs get enrolled in colleges or polytechnics for professional, conventional or vocational courses.

The 13-member committee headed by D Murugesan, former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, has members from varied fields, including Chess wizard Viswanathan Anand, Carnatic musician T M Krishna, renowned professors, and the headmaster of a government middle school in Nagapattinam.

At the time of constituting the committee, the government said a state like Tamil Nadu needed a separate education policy that would reflect the historical legacy, present situation and future aspirations of the people living in the region, which cannot be expected in national policies.

The SEP is seen as DMK’s answer to the National Education Policy of the BJP government. In a Government Order (GO) signed on June 1, Kakarla Usha, Secretary, School Education Department, laid out the Terms of Reference for the committee, which should submit a report in a year’s time. The committee can constitute sub-panels for drafting the SEP.

The GO said the committee should take inputs from educationists and subjects. experts and suggest reforms aimed at developing modern, technology driven and updated curriculum frameworks for early childhood care and education, school education, college education, teacher education and adult education in an integrated manner and in keeping with the fast changing global education and employment landscape.

Examination reforms, reforms in teacher/assistant professor recruitment & training and ensuring their accountability towards stated objectives and suggesting ways to improve the quality of research in Higher Education Institutions (HEI) are some of the other responsibilities of the panel.

“Suggest ways to incorporate life skills, soft skills, creative skills, language skills and social justice values as part of the broad spectrum of education from the sciences to the liberal arts. To ensure that all school pass outs enrol in some stream of Higher Education polytechnics, professional courses, conventional courses, vocational courses,” the GO said.

The government said the committee will also suggest ways to tap resources from all funding agencies from India and abroad.

The constitution of the committee to draft the SEP within a year is also a clear political move as Stalin makes a concerted push against the BJP’s policies, especially in the education sector, like his opposition to NEET and the proposed common entrance test for admission into UG programs.

The DMK government feels a three-language policy, conducting public exams for third, fifth, and eighth standards, and a four-year degree program is not in line with the current education model, including the two-language policy of Tamil and English which successive governments have followed since 1968.