CHENNAI: A day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah accused the incumbent DMK government of neglecting Tamil medium education in engineering and medical courses, DMK’s Rajya Sabha MP P Wilson termed his concerns “crocodile tears”.
During a television interview, Amit Shah called the ruling DMK “anti-Tamil” and alleged that the state government had not yet introduced medical and engineering education in Tamil or translated textbooks into the language. Countering these claims, Wilson pointed out that “lakhs of students have benefitted from former CM Karunanidhi’s policy of offering engineering courses in Tamil since 2010.”
He noted that the National Medical Commission had allowed undergraduate medical instruction in regional languages only in 2024, and soon after, the vice chancellor of Dr MGR University announced that Tamil Nadu’s medical colleges would teach in both Tamil and English. Wilson also criticised the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for obstructing Tamil medium education.
He also pointed out that under the PSTM (Persons Studied in Tamil Medium) Act, 2010, the Tamil Nadu government had implemented a 20% reservation in government jobs for those who completed their qualifying degrees in Tamil.