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TN gets its own education policy
Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin launched a new education policy, opposing NEP 2020, emphasizing Tamil and English, and rejecting public exams for certain grades.
Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin on Friday unveiled the state’s new education policy as an alternative to the Centre’s National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, as he reiterated his commitment to follow the bilingual policy of Tamil and English.
Addressing a gathering at the Anna Centenary Library Auditorium in Chennai, Stalin accused the Centre of trying to “impose” Hindi upon the southern state through NEP. “Mother tongue Tamil is our identity, our pride. The bilingual policy of Tamil and English will be our firm stand. And I reaffirm this,” he said.
He added: “We want to provide the necessary energy for future life. We want to create students who are technologically minded, creative, future-ready and well equipped... We are going to make a change in education, our aim is to educate all. Nobody should be left out.”
The new policy comes months after a war of words broke out between the Tamil Nadu government and the Centre over NEP, which makes implementation of three-language formula mandatory.
Tamil Nadu, which has a two-language one, has opposed NEP with concerns over the possible imposition of Hindi or Sanskrit under the three-language policy.
Earlier this year, Stalin and Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan sparred over the implementation of NEP in the state, with the former claiming funds were being held back as a form of blackmail. Stalin had then said that the Union government was sowing the seeds of another language war and that Tamil Nadu was ready for it.
In May, the state moved the Supreme Court, alleging that the Union government was withholding of funds worth ₹2,151 crore under the Samagra Shiksha Scheme (SSS), a centrally-sponsored scheme, alleging that it was done to “coerce” and “force” the state to implement the NEP.
Language has long been an emotive issue for the state that was rocked by anti-Hindi agitation in the 1960s. Pradhan had in the past called the three-language formula “the backbone of India’s education framework since 1968”.
Speaking at Friday’s event, Tamil Nadu education minister Anbil Mahesh said the state is “not ready to implement” the three-language policy under NEP. “The Chief Minister has said that we will follow the two-language policy,” he said.
Under the new SEP, the state will also not implement the NEP recommendation of public examinations for students in classes 3, 5 and 8. “(Under NEP) If they do not pass, a one-month time is given (to reappear). That we are not following here because under the RTE Act, classes 1 to 8 all pass,” he said.
The SEP was drafted by a committee set up by the state government and chaired by retired high court judge justice D Murugesan, which submitted the report in 2024.
As per the new policy, there will be no public exams for Class 11 from the current academic year. The policy mandates Tamil to be taught mandatorily till Class 10. It also encourages play-based learning in pre-primary classes, bans parallel coaching centres and suggests reforms in teacher recruitment with a focus on classroom pedagogy.
Former Telangana Governor and BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan slammed the state government for releasing the SEP with the intention to oppose the NEP. “The #SEP is not State Education Policy. It’s DMK’s politicised State Egoistic Policy drafted from @arivalayam... It is a document of division, not development,” she claimed in a post on X. “NEP was introduced with nationwide consultation. SEP introduces isolation. SEP is political appeasement not student empowerment. SEP is serving only political egoes of DMK...”
