The National Education Policy or the NEP 2020 which was recently brought before the people of India has been inviting all kinds of reactions from people across the political and educational spectrum. While there are groups which see immense possibilities and positive changes ingrained in the document, others look at potential threats of centralisation, privatisation and the robbing away of pedagogic freedoms in the long run.
While the country still debates and discusses the pros and cons of a policy that will leave an impact on all kinds of households in the country and affect every citizen’s life very closely, the southern state of Tamil Nadu has been vehemently standing in opposition of the recommendations of the NEP.
One of the major problems with the NEP that the southern states and especially Tamil Nadu has expressed is related to the three language formula which is one of the core ideas of the NEP 2020. In a recent statement, Tamil Nadu CM E.K. Palaniswami said that the three language formula as suggested in the NEP 2020 will never be followed and implemented by Tamil Nadu.
He also expressed his deep felt anguish over the three-language formula which is one of the key contentions of the New Education Policy and urged PM Narendra Modi to reconsider it. He went on to highlight that the two-language formula that has been followed by the state of Tamil Nadu for decades was best suited to its demands and the they wouldn’t follow the three-language formula at all.
He also said that the Tamil people have resisted the three language formula through various resistances and protests in the past and now too, they wouldn’t be accepting the three language formula.
It may be recalled that the state saw massive anti-Hindi protests during the times of 1965 and resisted the imposition of the Hindi language under the Congress regime.
The Constitution of India allows English to be used as a medium of communication between the Centre and the State incase Hindi isn’t its official language. Many political groups and major political parties such as the AIDMK in the state are not ready to accept the imposition of the Hindi language and want to stick to the two-language formula and that is why they are resisting the three-language formula of the NEP 2020. However, DMK President MK Stalin welcomed the move by the state government and said, “ I thank the chief minister for opposing the three-language formula in the new education policy.”
