A draft of the state education policy — which has been in the making in Tamil Nadu in opposition to the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 — has been submitted to the ruling DMK government by the Justice Murugesan-led panel on Monday.
After forming the government in 2021, chief minister MK Stalin had announced during their first budget that they will come up with an education policy exclusively for Tamil Nadu. In 2022, he constituted a committee of experts from various fields which was headed by retired justice D Murugesan.
The government has not released the report yet. A senior member of the committee said that they have submitted a 550-page report in English and 600-pages in Tamil to CM Stalin. They have recommended that Tamil Nadu continue its dual-language policy of Tamil and English as the medium of instruction and to abolish public examinations for class 3, 5, and 8, the member said on the condition of anonymity.
The DMK has particularly opposed the NEP’s language policy and Stalin had earlier vowed to continue with the dual language policy in the state which has been in place since 1967. “We have travelled across the state and incorporated inputs from teachers, students, NGOs, former vice-chancellors and teacher associations,” a second member of the committee said, not wishing to be named.
The 13-member committee included Indian chess grandmaster Viswanathan Anand, musician and activist TM Krishna and former vice-chancellor of Saveetha University, L Jawahar Nesan.
The committee also had its share of controversies. Last year, Nesan had issued a two- page press statement announcing his resignation because of interference from senior IAS officers.
“As a result, the committee is spearheaded towards formulating the state education policy on the footsteps of the National Education Policy, 2020,” Nesan had alleged then.
“Therefore, the final policy will be nothing but the rechristened version of the National Education Policy, driven by the interests of corporate and market forces….”
The state’s policy is to be in accordance with the history of educational practices in Tamil Nadu, the current situation and its future goals, an official of the state education department added.
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