As the DMK gears up for the Assembly election in the hope of getting re-elected, Minister for Higher Education Dr Govi Chezhiaan, in an interview with TNIE’s Prabhakar Tamilarasu and Binita Jaiswal, reflects on his political journey, the government’s achievements, and answers queries on the shortcomings.
Excerpts:
At the time of your elevation as higher education minister, your identity as a Dalit became a point of discussion. How did you see it?
I started from student politics. I was the student union president at Kumbakonam [arts and science] college. My first constituency, Tiruvidaimaruthur, was a general constituency earlier. In 2011, when it was announced a reserved constituency, I contested in 2011, 2016 and 2021, and won all the three times.
A person from the Scheduled Caste (SC) community being given the Higher Education portfolio is an achievement no other state has seen. From a caste that was never allowed to study, reaching the position of Higher Education Minister — this is what Periyar’s ideology, Anna’s vision, Kalaignar’s politics and Stalin’s governance has delivered. (Pauses and turns emotional). The Dravidian Movement and the DMK have always stood for social justice. That has been the tradition for the past 75 years, and it will continue.
Some raise concerns about the inability of Dalits contesting from general constituencies in the major parties.
I may not fully agree with that perspective. In general constituencies, those persons who toil hard for the party and earn people’s trust can only be chosen. Yet, Kalaignar (late DMK president and former CM M Karunanidhi) fielded CT Dhandapani from Coimbatore West (general) constituency in 1996 and he won. Similarly, Parithi Ilamvazhuthi, who was demeaned by his caste name and driven out from the Assembly by the opposition (between 1991 and 1996 when he was the among the two DMK MLAs in the Assembly), became the deputy speaker of the Assembly in 1996. The rotation of reservation status of constituencies should happen every ten years. However, due to various issues, it took 25 years last time. If the rotation is ensured once in 10 years, Dalits will get elected from constituencies where other communities could be numerically dominant.
What do you consider as achievements in higher education during your tenure?
We introduced a new curriculum across 64 colleges with two shifts. Our aim is that all courses available in a premier college in the city should also be available in colleges in the rural areas. For 14 years, recruitment had stalled, but we made it happen and conducted interviews for 2,708 people, and managed to conclude selection for five subjects.
Moreover, though Tamil Nadu historically had the highest GER (Gross Enrolment Ratio) from Kalaignar’s era to present, our CM introduced several new schemes to improve this further while upskilling the students. Be it Naan Mudhalvan, Tamil Pudhalvan or the Pudhumai Penn scheme, all have significantly improved the GER. We are not competing nationally anymore, but at an international level. Similarly, after our [party] youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin became the sports minister, he has made sports not just a path towards government employment, but a front where youngsters can truly excel without worrying about financial support.
The State Education Policy, a key promise of the DMK, was not implemented in higher education...
We are determined not to accept the three-language policy, which is nothing but imposition of Hindi. Hence, we had set up a committee. It is examining all the changes that were brought in education policies over the years. The state policy will be released in due course.
About 15 universities do not have vice chancellors and state universities are struggling for funds…
The appointment of V-Cs hit a roadblock because of the governor (former governor RN Ravi). But we won the legal battle against the governor’s interventions and V-Cs will soon be appointed. There is no question of fund crunch. After we came to power, we have revived alumni associations in most universities. In some universities, we are in the process of restructuring. It will be done soon.