Will continue with 2-language policy, says K A Sengottaiyan

Chennai: Asserting that the State government is committed to the two-language policy of Tamil and English in Tamil Nadu, School Education Minister K. A. Sengottaiyan has said the Amma (former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa) government is rock solid on continuing with this policy.

“The decision on implementing two language policy was taken during the time of C. N. Annadurai (former CM) and the Tamil Nadu government has been implementing it (since1968),” Mr. Sengottaiyan said. Speaking to reporters at Erode in the state on Tuesday, he said the government stance has remained untouched even during the reign of former Chief Ministers: M. G. Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa.

Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami who has taken up the issue with the Centre, had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi explaining the government’s stance on the issue, Mr. Sengottaiyan said.

The State government too has been opposing the three-language formula proposed by the Centre in the draft National Education Policy (NEP). When the opposition DMK had raised the issue in the Assembly during the just concluded Budget session, the School Education Minister has clarified that the government was determined to continue implementing the two-language formula.

Since it was released immediately after the BJP stormed to power at the Centre for the second time, the draft NEP has stoked controversies by proposing three-language formula and closure of sub-optimal government schools. But following strong protests from Tamil Nadu, the Centre dropped the contentious provision of compulsory learning of Hindi in non-Hindi speaking States.

In Tamil Nadu, public consultation meetings on the draft was held in the city recently but a large number of stakeholders claimed they were unaware of the meeting.