COIMBATORE: The School Education Department through a government order on September 18 has made Tamil compulsory in all the schools in the State, including Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) institutions.
The State Government had earlier passed the Tamil Nadu Tamil Learning Act in 2006 and made teaching Tamil as one of the subjects mandatory in all nursery and primary, middle, high and higher secondary schools, including minority institutions, in the state. However, CBSE schools were exempted from the purview of the act.
“The recent government order brings all the CBSE schools in the State under the purview of the act except those mentioned under the specified category,” said D Sabitha, Education Secretary.
The Central Act of 35 of 2009 lists Kendriya Vidyalaya, Navodaya Vidyalaya and Sainik Schools under the “specified category”.
According to CBSE’s official website there are 565 schools in Tamil Nadu affiliated to the CBSE as on date. Apart from the 41 Kendriya Vidyalayas, 2 Navodya Vidyalayas and one Sainik School in the State, it has now become mandatory for all other CBSE schools to make Tamil as a subject for students.
The Tamil Nadu Learning Act, 2006, was implemented from April 2012 and this February the School Education Department issued a circular stating that Tamil would be made a compulsory language paper for Class X students in the academic year 2015-16 and sought for a report from the schools in this regard.
The decision evoked strong opposition from matriculation schools and as a result many students from matric schools migrated to CBSE institutions.
With the debate over the Education Department’s decision making Tamil a compulsory language paper for Class X students going on, the Department has come out with this latest order.
If this GO is enforced all students will have to certainly take Tamil as a subject from the next academic year (2015-16).
This decision might be a major concern for those CBSE students who have not taken Tamil as one of their papers and a few academicians doubt the extent up to which the state can extend its control over the central board-run schools.