CHENNAI: TN started teaching engineering courses in Tamil 12 years ago when M Karunanidhi was chief minister, said Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy on Sunday, adding that works to translate study materials for medical courses were on. He was replying to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s request that TN government teach medicine and engineering in Tamil.
Ponmudy urged Shah to allocate more funds for promoting Tamil on a par with those spent on the development of Sanskrit. He recalled the efforts of an earlier DMK-led TN government (1997-2001) to ensure that more Tamils get selected in UPSC exams. The then TN government decided to bring out books on different subjects in Tamil. A book on the history of Tamil literature was the first to get published.
He added that the government enacted a law to make Tamil compulsory in all schools up to Class 10, and demanded that the Centre fill vacancies of Tamil teachers in Kendriya Vidyalayas and at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi.