VRIDDACHALAM: Doubling down on his attack on the centre over the National Education Policy, Chief Minister M K Stalin on Saturday said he would not agree to implement it even if the centre offered to provide Rs 10,000 crore to the state. “Acquiescing to the centre’s demand for Rs 2,000 crore would push the progress of the state backwards by 2,000 years,” he said.
Opposition to NEP was not merely due to the attempt to impose Hindi but also because of factors that would have adverse consequences for students’ future and social justice, he said. Besides encouraging a screening test for admissions to even arts and science colleges, the NEP would also allow students to discontinue their studies, he said. “Allowing students to discontinue studies is akin to asking them not to study,” Stalin said during an event organised by the Parents-Teachers Association in Vriddachalam.
“The union government’s economic survey acknowledges TN’s progress in education, but the centre withheld Rs 2,152 crore meant for the welfare of 43 lakh students because we rejected the NEP,” he said.
‘Will never allow any language to be imposed on us’
Stalin said, “We are not against any language, including Hindi, but we will not allow any language to be imposed upon us.” Listing out what he saw as some of the regressive aspects of the education policy, the CM claimed that NEP will lead to the dilution of Tamil Nadu’s social justice policies and discontinuation of financial aid for SC, ST and OBC students. “The mandatory board exam proposed for Classes 3, 5 and 8; introduction of semester exams for Classes 9 to 12; NEET-like entrance exam for engineering and arts courses; and vocational education from Class 6 would push students towards occupation based on caste,” Stalin said.
Criticising the union government for the disproportional allocation of funds for other languages, Stalin said, “For Sanskrit, which only a few thousand people speak, the centre has allocated Rs 1,488 crore. But for Tamil, spoken by 8 crore people, only Rs 74 crore has been allocated.”
Despite the central fund cuts, Tamil Nadu would continue to implement all its school education programmes without any interruption, he said. “This year alone, Rs 44,000 crore has been allocated for school education and Rs 8,200 crore for higher education,” he said.
Pointing to the participants, Stalin said, the ‘Celebrate Parents’ initiative aims to strengthen relationships between parents and teachers. “Parents are the first teachers, and teachers are the second parents. Together, we must build disciplined, skilled, and knowledgeable students. Tamil Nadu government will always stand with you in this mission,” he said. Stalin praised school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi and noted that Tamil Nadu now ranks second in school education nationwide. He commended the minister for the successful organisation of the Bharat Scouts and Guides diamond jubilee celebrations on January 28.
On Saturday, the CM inaugurated classrooms, laboratory facilities and hostel buildings constructed at Rs 177.38 crore across 132 government schools in the state. He also launched the APPA application of the Tamil Nadu Parent-Teacher Association and the “Orumaikkan” mobile application. Additionally, he released a special souvenir of the Parent-Teacher Association conference.