MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court has sought counter from Union Ministry of Human Resources and Development on public interest litigation, seeking direction to the government to translate Draft National Educational Policy (NEP) 2019 into regional languages including Tamil to facilitate effective public consultation.
The litigant G Bhagavath Singh, a Madurai-based advocate, submitted in his petition that the NEP is an important policy which, when implemented, would have wide impact on future generations. But the draft NEP document is available only in English and Hindi, he added.
“Since a huge amount of taxpayers money is to be spent for this policy, the government must conduct an inclusive and participatory consultation with public on the policy and its impact on various stakeholders,” stated the litigant.
Though suggestions have been invited from public on the policy till July 31, such a public consultation would not serve its purpose without the government providing a translated version of the document in local languages, pointed out the litigant.
He prayed the court to direct the government to provide a copy of the draft NEP in all languages in Eighth Schedule including Tamil before the policy is implemented. A bench comprising Justices M Sathyanarayanan and B Pugalendhi issued notice to the secretary of the ministry and adjourned the case to July 30 for filing of counter.