CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu higher education minister K Ponmudy on Wednesday said the state government will soon introduce a common syllabus for all state universities. Speaking to reporters after presiding over a vice-chancellors’ conference in Anna University on Wednesday, the minister said, “From next academic year, all state universities will have a common application system for PG programmes. Semester exam results of all TN universities will also be released on the same day.”
Reiterating Tamil Nadu’s position over the National Education Policy (NEP), the minister said, “Universities in Tamil Nadu will function as per the State Education Policy (SEP) and once the policy document is out, I believe all vice-chancellors will cooperate in implementing it.”
The minister’s comment assumes significance as it is seen as a response to Governor R N Ravi who is holding a separate vice-chancellors’ conference in Ooty on June 5 to discuss NEP. With this statement, the minister has reignited the tussle between the state government and the governor over NEP.
Speaking about the governor’s conference, Ponmudy said, “The governor acts arbitrarily without consulting the state govt. It is the discretion of V-Cs to attend the conference or to stay away from it.”
Officials in the higher education department said the Tamil Nadu government has neither been informed nor invited for the conference by the governor’s office.
Edu min’s statement leaves V-Cs worried
The minister’s statement, however, has left vice-chancellors worried. “We are caught in the middle in the tussle between the state government and the governor. If we attend the governor’s conference, we might face the state’s wrath. If we don’t take part, we will be going against the will of the governor who is the chancellor of the universities,” a V-C said.
Ponmudy said the proposed reforms will bring uniformity in the state universities and will be beneficial to students. “Universities can tweak the syllabus by up to 25% according to their requirement, but the remaining 75% must be as per the common syllabus,” Ponmudy said.
He also clarified that universities cannot make any changes in the syllabus for language subjects such as Tamil and English, and 100% uniformity must be followed. He also said that to encourage students to study in Tamil, it has been announced that they will get priority in employment.
The other issues discussed in the meeting were syllabus revision, fee structure in various universities, status of implementation of Naan Mudhalvan courses, and projects to improve infrastructure in col leges and universities.
Common form for PG courses; result on same day
“From next year, all TN universities will have a common application system for PG programmes. Semester exam results of universities will also be released on the same day. I believe all V-Cs will cooperate in implementing the SEP,” higher education minister K Ponmudy said