Tamil Nadu’s protest against the National Education Policy.

A.M.Dewin Markas

01.04.2025

In 2020, the Central Government introduced the draft National Education Policy (NEP). While some states have accepted the NEP, Tamil Nadu has completely opposed it. The Tamil Nadu government stated that the reasons for this opposition include the three-language policy in the NEP, public examinations for students in grades 3, 5, and 8, the risk of educational institutions being privatized, and the allegation that the NEP promotes a hereditary education system. Tamil Nadu continues to oppose it today. Regarding this, Tamil Nadu’s Minister for School Education, Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, said:

Tamil Nadu has been following the two-language policy formulated by the then Chief Minister C.N. Annadurai since 1968. This policy emerged in response to the anti-Hindi agitations that took place in the 1930s and 1960s. It is committed to preserving Tamil, one of the world’s oldest living languages, as the core of Tamil Nadu’s cultural identity. Imposing a third language risks weakening this heritage.

Tamil Nadu’s two-language policy has delivered higher literacy rates and educational achievements compared to other states. By focusing on Tamil as the mother tongue and English as a global link language, it has struck a balance between local needs and international competitiveness. This has facilitated social and economic progress for the past 50 years without burdening students with a third language.

Introducing a third language would create practical difficulties, including a shortage of qualified teachers for languages other than Hindi. This could force students to learn Hindi, which would violate the NEP’s principle of choice. The two-language system, on the other hand, is well-established with a robust existing infrastructure. Therefore, Minister Anbil Mahesh states that the National Education Policy is not needed for Tamil Nadu.

From the Governor of Tamil Nadu to former Vice-Chancellors, many are campaigning in support of the National Education Policy. However, educationist Prince Gajendra Babu says that it poses a significant danger:

“Higher education opportunities for the reserved categories will only exist as long as there are public educational institutions; if that structure is destroyed, reservation will only remain on paper. The National Education Policy 2020 contains conspiracies to dismantle the public education structure and hand over the entire education system to private entities.

The unity and progress of India, a country with diverse linguistic national groups and a multi-faceted culture, is only possible through the principle of ‘unity in diversity.’ The National Education Policy 2020 document aims to destroy the integration built over seventy-five years and establish a cultural unitary nation with a Sanskrit-based culture. It cannot be viewed merely as a document for educational policy.

The National Education Policy 2020 is directly opposed to the perspective, purpose, and various provisions of the Constitution of India. In its revised budget, the Government of Tamil Nadu had announced the allocation of funds for activities needed to instill confidence in children and encourage their educational activities, as they had been confined to their homes for two years due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was also clarified that this was a six-month plan.

Training for employment in childhood and examinations in grades 3, 5, and 8 will create an inferiority complex in children’s minds, making them believe from a young age that they cannot study further. This will push students out of formal, direct schooling and higher education. Even if a student tries to enter higher education, they will be prevented by hurdles such as an entrance exam for degree courses, the requirement to pass all papers in the first year to continue to the second year, and the transformation of a three-year degree into a four-year honors degree with a requirement of 7.5 points in the third year to continue to the fourth year. This will make a large section of students ineligible to participate in postgraduate studies and higher employment, creating a future where there is no competition for a certain section of society that has historically dominated higher education and higher employment. This is the conspiracy of the National Education Policy 2020,” he says.