CHENNAI: Taking umbrage to the comments of Governor R N Ravi on the quality of the school education syllabus of the state government, Sports and Youth Development Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Thursday said the remark was an insult to teachers and students.
“A good syllabus promotes independent and rational thinking. In that sense, Tamil Nadu’s syllabus is the finest in the country and will continue to nurture talented students,” Udhayanidhi said.
Speaking at a Teachers’ Day event in Vandalur, where he conferred the Dr Radhakrishnan Award on 386 teachers from government and private schools, Udhayanidhi said the state has produced numerous prominent personalities, including ISRO scientist P Veeramuthuvel.
“Government school students hold top positions in the IT industry, both in India and abroad. Given this, we cannot accept such criticisms of our education system. It insults our students and teachers. Our CM and the government will not tolerate this,” he said.
The minister said the DMK-led government consistently places a special focus on teachers.
‘Don’t use PE periods to teach other subjects’
Udhayanidhi said the CM himself thinks like a teacher in order to uplift students and introduces schemes accordingly.
The minister also listed out the state government’s welfare schemes related to education, including Pudhumai Penn Scheme, Tamil Pudhalvan scheme, and the Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme that benefits 20 lakh children every day.
As the sports minister, he also urged the teachers not to take up physical education training periods to teach other lessons. He suggested the School Education Department and the Sports Development Department should collaborate to organise a state-level tournament for teachers.
“Only when teachers take part in sports, will they understand its importance and allow the students to do the same,” he added. School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, Minister for MSMEs T M Anbarasan and others were present.
Edu quality poor: Guv
Governor RN Ravi on Thursday claimed that the quality of education in TN is on a sharp decline and teaching standards in government schools have fallen below the national average