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Centre forcing Tamil Nadu to accept PM SHRI schools, adopt NEP: Minister
Tamil Nadu school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi on Wednesday criticised the Centre for penalising the state by forcing it to adopt central schemes by withholding funds.
Tamil Nadu school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi on Wednesday criticised the Centre for penalising the state by forcing it to adopt central schemes by withholding funds. He said that the Union government’s stance that they will not release funds unless Tamil Nadu accepts the National Education Policy (NEP, 2020) linked to the scheme is not justified.
His statement came a day after chief minister M K Stalin wrote to the Prime Minister on the matter. Under the Samagra Shiksha (SS) scheme, the state is yet to receive the first instalment of ₹573 crore allocated for this year and ₹249 crore from the previous year. Under the scheme, an allocation of ₹3,586 crore was made for Tamil Nadu, with Centre’s share amounting to 60% which is ₹2,152 crore, for 2024-25.
Poyyamozhi said: “We have taken education to every nook and corner in Tamil Nadu. Suddenly, this year the Union government asked us to accept PM SHRI Schools and to adopt NEP.
“We clearly told them that we are ready for PM SHRI Schools but we will never adopt NEP. So they have not released funds and told us they won’t unless we adopt NEP,” he said.
In June, the Centre was to release 572 crore to the state, the school education minister said. “Since we have not received it, we will be in a situation to stop our initiatives that we have been doing to address school dropouts, increase attendance. It affects our schemes for school children. We will not be able to pay salaries to 10,000 to 15,000 teachers,” Poyyamozhi said. “We have not received a reply for the chief minister’s letter. Education is not a place to play politics. I urge the Union government to consider our request.”
Stalin had urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to expedite the release of pending funds for Tamil Nadu. He said that the Centre appears to be linking the full implementation of the NEP in PM SHRI Schools as a prerequisite for releasing funds under the SS Scheme. He pointed out that while funds have been released to states that have signed MoUs, the state’s request to make minor modifications to MoU has not yet been accepted.
There has been an increasing political chorus over the issue for the Union government to release the funds for school education and assertion that Tamil Nadu will oppose the three language policy prescribed under NEP and follow the two-language policy of English and Tamil which has been in practice since 1968.
The Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) on Tuesday announced that they will carry out a series of protests demanding for the funds to be released immediately. “This is an attempt to destroy the education system of Tamil Nadu, which is a pioneer in the country,” TNCC chairman K Selvaperunthagai said.
Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), the NDA ally in Tamil Nadu, criticised the BJP-led Union government for withholding funds over differences in policies. “The DMK should have fought for the funds much earlier,” PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss said.
