Even as the Tamil Nadu government has moved the Supreme Court to secure the release of ₹2,152 crore under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday said the amount due to the State would be released only after it implements the National Education Policy (NEP).
Accusing the DMK government led by M.K. Stalin of politicizing the NEP’s three-language policy, Pradhan made it clear that unless the State signed the agreement to implement the NEP, the funds would not be released. He was speaking at the Dakshinapatha Summit, organised by IIT-Madras and Think India.
“When Tamil Nadu School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi and DMK Parliamentary Party leader Kanimozhi met me in Delhi, I told them the State should sign the agreement and implement the NEP to secure the release of the withheld funds. I also spoke about this in Parliament,” he recalled.
“While all other States have accepted the NEP, only Tamil Nadu has been resisting, for political reasons, thereby endangering the future of students. Still, the State is receiving funds for schemes such as the mid-day meal programme. No State is being forced to accept any particular language under the three-language policy,” he maintained, asking, “What is wrong in learning an additional language?” He further accused the ruling DMK of imposing its political stand on students.
The Tamil Nadu government has remained steadfast in its opposition to the three-language policy, terming it a ploy to impose Hindi and Sanskrit hegemony. Since 1968, the State has followed a two-language formula (mother tongue Tamil and English).
It has already filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking release of ₹2,152 crore withheld by the Union Education Ministry. Except for the BJP, there is political consensus in the State against the three-language policy. The State government has introduced its own Education Policy for school education and is preparing a separate policy for higher education as well.