Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday questioned the Tamil Nadu government’s staunch opposition to the National Education Policy (NEP), defending the Centre’s position on the policy and the PM Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) scheme.
Speaking outside Parliament, Pradhan said, “The Government of India recently held discussions with the Tamil Nadu government, and a compromise was found. If Tamil Nadu agrees, we have no objection to providing them PM SHRI allocations. In Tamil Nadu, only the Tamil language will be the medium of instruction in PM SHRI schools. What is their opposition? I don’t understand this.”
Pradhan reiterated that the central government was not imposing any language policy, pointing out that states like Punjab, Karnataka, and Maharashtra are successfully implementing both the PM SHRI scheme and NEP without any language-related concerns.
In a separate statement in the Lok Sabha, Pradhan accused the ruling DMK of being “dishonest” and prioritizing political gains over the future of Tamil Nadu’s students. “The DMK is not committed to the students of Tamil Nadu. Their only job is to raise language barriers. They are doing politics,” he said.
DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran refuted Pradhan’s claims, asserting that the Tamil Nadu government had never agreed to implement the NEP. Maran clarified that while Tamil Nadu is not opposed to Hindi as an optional language, it rejects the compulsory imposition of a third language.
“We are not against Hindi. If students want to learn it, they are free to do so. But it should not be compulsory,” Maran said.
(Inputs from ANI)