Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan speaks in the Rajya Sabha on March 11, 2025. Photo: Sansad TV via ANI
Maintaining his position that the three-language formula in the National Education Policy (NEP) of 2020 is different from the policy implemented by the Congress government in 1968, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan urged the Tamil Nadu government not to create impediments to the aspirations of the students in the State.
Replying to a debate on the working of his Ministry in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, he said multilingualism was the order of the time. The NEP promoted learning in mother tongue up to Class 5, he reiterated.
He pointed out that in Tamil Nadu, enrolment in Tamil-medium schools had dropped in the last few years, while there was a jump in enrolment in English-medium schools. This indicated a “deep shift in preference”, he said.
On the controversy over the appointment of Vice-Chancellors in various public universities, he said there was nothing new in it. He pointed fingers at the University Grants Commission guidelines on faculty appointments adopted in 2010, when the Congress-led UPA was in power, for the problems. He said if there was any need for changes in the guidelines, the Centre would consider it.
‘Govt. promoting Tamil’
On the issue of three-language formula, he said the Centre never discriminated against anybody. “We are open to everybody,” he and expressed regret if his statements in the Lok Sabha on Monday hurt anybody. “But you have to face the truth and truth is bitter,” he said.
By launching the Kashi Tamil Sangamam, the Saurashtra Tamil Sangamam, translating Tirukkural into various languages and establishing an International Centre on Thiruvalluvar at Singapore, the Narendra Modi government was taking all efforts to promote Tamil language. “You can call me a fool. But you cannot make the people of Tamil Nadu fools all the time. Please come out of these old ideas,” he said, and added that the Union Government did not need “anybody’s certificate” on its commitment to Tamil language.
Countering the criticism that the NEP was imposed on the States without even discussing in Parliament, he said the K. Kasturirangan committee consulted every stakeholder before drafting the NEP during the COVID pandemic.
He said that in schools in Tamil Nadu, Tamil was declining and the preference for colonial language, English, was increasing. Citing government data, he said enrolments in Tamil-medium schools dropped from 65.87 lakh in 2018-19 to 46.83 lakh in 2023-24, a reduction of over 19.05 lakh students in a period of five years. “67% of students are now in English-medium schools, while Tamil-medium enrolment has dropped from 54% (2018-19) to 36% (2023-24). In government schools, English-medium enrolment jumped five times from 3.4 lakh to 17.7 lakh in just five years. Tamil enrolment fell by 7.3 lakh in government-aided schools, reflecting a deep shift in preference,” he said.
During the debate, a comment by Opposition leader Mallikarjun Kharge led to a brief ruckus. Initiating the debate, Congress MP Digvijaya Singh said the NEP favoured the rich and would make education a costlier affair for students belonging to poor families. He said that in 1986, Parliament discussed the then NEP, but the present government did not hold any debate in 2020. He said the present government’s policies also led to closure of 90,000 government schools between 2014 and 2024, but over 50,000 new private schools had come up. “This means that students who were studying in the now-closed schools will be forced to join private schools and pay fee,” he said.
DMK member Kanimozhi N.V.N. Somu said there had been a discernible shift that had infringed upon the State’s autonomy, deviating from established federal principles and undermining the intensive framework of development and inclusive governance. “The delayed release of funds for Tamil Nadu education system is just not an administrative issue. It is a matter of constitutional and federal importance,” she said.
Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda asked the Centre to intervene and stop controversies over V-C appointments.
Published – March 11, 2025 11:34 pm IST