Tamil Nadu’s State Education Policy which was meant to replace the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, will be a “rechristened version” of the NEP itself ”, accuses a member of the state’s high-level committee who has also made serious allegations against top bureaucrats.
Jawahar Nesan, a professor and member-convener of the State Education Policy High Level Committee issued a two- page press statement on Wednesday announcing his resignation because of interference from IAS officers. He has also named T Udhayachandran, the chief secretary-1 to chief minister M K Stalin.
“As a result, the committee is spearheaded towards formulating the state education policy on the footsteps of the National Education Policy, 2020,” Nesan has said. “Therefore, the final policy, will be nothing but the rechristened version of the National Education Policy, driven by the interests of the corporate and market forces, the interests of sanathanic forces, and the privatization and commercialization of education. I am afraid that if this continues, the policy outcome of the high level committee will largely go against the aspirations of and highest social virtues held by the people of Tamil Nadu.”
The stance of the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government has been against implementing the NEP primary opposition to the three-language policy. Tamil Nadu has followed a two-language policy of English and Tamil since 1967. After forming the government in May 2021, Stalin announced drafting a state education policy and formed a high-level committee for the same.
{{/usCountry}}The stance of the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government has been against implementing the NEP primary opposition to the three-language policy. Tamil Nadu has followed a two-language policy of English and Tamil since 1967. After forming the government in May 2021, Stalin announced drafting a state education policy and formed a high-level committee for the same.
{{/usCountry}}Nesan says that compromises were made from the initial terms of reference specified in the government order while forming the state committee. “Despite the plot towards compromising the mandate given in the terms of reference of the G.O. No. 98, I stuck on to pursue my deliverables per the committee’s approved policy making methods and plans to ensure that the goals are achieved as desired. However, the senior IAS officer Thiru. Udhaiyachandran, highly enraged, threatened me with abusive words to forcefully subscribe me to the imposed conditions,” he says. “...as the committee is floundering with being led by its leadership in a surreptitious manner in an undemocratic way, and with bureaucratic disruptions and influence and unruly interference caused by some senior IAS officers of the government. As a result, the committee is spearheaded towards formulating the state education policy on the footsteps of the National Education Policy 2020.”
Nesan has complained to the committee’s chairman- retired Madras High Court judge D Murugesan but he was ignored, he says. “Collectively, the developments indicate that the committee’s leadership has failed to protect the sovereign functioning of the committee from both bureaucratic interference and internal disruptions,” he has charged.