Kamal Haasan lauds Tamil Nadu's education policy, says it will ensure equality
"I wholeheartedly congratulate the Honorable Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Thiru MK Stalin, the Honorable Minister of School Education, Thiru Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, and the committee led by the former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, Justice T Murugesan, who designed the Tamil Nadu State Education Policy, for their efforts toward the goal of quality education for all," wrote the veteran actor.The new education policy sticks to Tamil Nadu's long-standing two-language policy — Tamil and English. Every student, regardless of whether they study under CBSE, ICSE or state board, must learn Tamil up to Class 10. The state has clearly rejected any form of language imposition.The new state education policy completely scraps public exams for Classes 3, 5 and 8 and mentions that all students will be promoted till Class 10, with no fail system in these years. Also, there will be no exams in Class 11 either. Through this, the government aims to reduce pressure and stop the early commercialisation of education. The state education policy has vehemently opposed NEET citing stress and inequality. The new policy firmly rejects central imposition and calls for more direct state investment in public schools and colleges. Tamil Nadu sees education as a state subject and argues for greater local control and public funding to ensure quality and access without over-reliance on private players.- EndsMust Watch
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Warangal, K'nagar smart city projects crawl, top pendency
1 2 Hyderabad: Forget the talk of a second capital for Telangana, the state's two smart cities, Warangal and Karimnagar, are struggling to live up to their promise under the national Smart City Mission. Nearly a decade after the initiative began, both cities remain among the slowest performers in the country, with a large chunk of projects still incomplete despite substantial central funding and ambitious targets. According to the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs, Warangal and Karimnagar together have 52 ongoing projects, the highest number of pending works for any state under SCM. Karimnagar has completed about 75% of its projects, while Warangal lags behind with only 66% completion. In Warangal, out of 119 projects worth 1,800 crore, 79 projects valued at 1,386 crore have been completed, leaving 40 works still underway. Karimnagar has finished 37 of its 49 projects costing 1,094 crore, with 12 pending. The state has already fully utilised central funds of 805 crore allocated for these projects. You Can Also Check: Hyderabad AQI | Weather in Hyderabad | Bank Holidays in Hyderabad | Public Holidays in Hyderabad 'Frequent changes in plans' "As per SCM guidelines, 500 crore in central financial assistance was allocated to each of the cities. As of July 31, Greater Warangal and Karimnagar were able to claim 377 crore and 429 crore respectively," Union minister for housing and urban affairs Manohar Lal Khattar told the Rajya Sabha. Officials say progress has been delayed by legal disputes, slow departmental clearances, land acquisition hurdles, shortage of vendors and resources, and challenges in fully integrating municipal departments with Integrated Command and Control Centres. Frequent changes in project plans have further slowed execution. In Warangal's case, the challenges have been compounded by administrative instability. The Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation has seen nine municipal commissioners in the past decade, disrupting consistent monitoring and follow-up of smart city works. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area.
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
Language lessons: on Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, State Education Policy
Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are planning to implement a two-language formula for school education, as opposed to the push for a three-language policy in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. Both States are inclined towards primacy for local languages, Tamil and Kannada, respectively, and then English in school education. Tamil Nadu has already unveiled its State Education Policy (SEP) while a commission has submitted its recommendations for Karnataka's SEP. Tamil Nadu has merely reiterated its existing two-language policy, but Karnataka is set to discontinue its three-language policy. The commission has proposed that Kannada or the child's mother tongue should be the medium of instruction up to Class 5, and preferably till Class 12. Kannada or whatever is the mother tongue and English will be the two compulsory languages. If implemented, this will replace the model that includes Hindi as a third compulsory language. Other recommendations include moving away from NCERT textbooks and developing a Karnataka-specific curriculum and bilingual teaching methods. The Tamil Nadu SEP, which was announced by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin recently, makes Tamil compulsory up to Class 10 across all boards. The NEP proposes a third language which should be Hindi or another Indian language, seen as an attempt to impose Hindi. The Tamil Nadu SEP also commits to promote critical thinking, digital literacy, climate education, and social justice. Apart from a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) approach, the State also wants to offer special support for tribal students, first-generation learners, and students with disabilities. The government has pledged more support for public education. In fact, uniform high quality public education should be the biggest priority of school education policy for all States and the Centre. The Centre's ill-advised focus on language turns unproductive and controversial even though it does not insist on promoting Hindi on paper. The three-language policy is also in disregard for the demand for English language learning, and as a medium of instruction across States, including in the Hindi-speaking regions, and Gujarat and Maharashtra. Education policies have been a major driver of the development outcomes in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, and any attempt to forcibly alter them by central policies would do no good to anyone. Tamil Nadu is fighting for the release of ₹2,152 crore in education funds from the Centre that is rightfully its. There is no harm in learning Hindi or any other language, but when perceived as a political project of domination, its promotion causes resistance. The Centre must give up its language obduracy and focus on several critical challenges in school education. It must work with State governments to tackle them.
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
Signing off on an entrenched symbol of stigma
In rural Tamil Nadu, the word 'colony' has become a symbol of social stigma and of being associated with a 'lower caste neighbourhood'. It has continued to be a social marker of 'untouchability'. Therefore the announcement by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin in the Legislative Assembly, on April 29, 2025, that all the village names ending with 'colony' and others containing denigrating caste references such as 'Pallappatti', 'Paraiyappatti', 'Naavidhan Kulam', 'Paraiyan Kulam', 'Sakkilippatti' would be removed from State records, and that such villages would be renamed is significant. We can reasonably hypothesise that the practice of segregating the toiling masses into isolated settlements away from the quarters of higher castes based on the varnashrama system began sometime around 12th century CE. We began to see literary references supporting this from the 12th century onwards. The impact in rural Tamil Nadu Over the centuries, names have cropped up with the intent of conveying in a derogatory manner the lower caste nature of such localities. Names such as Cheri Street, Paraya Street, Palla Street, Scavenger Street, Harijan Colony, Adi Dravidar Colony, Old Colony, New Colony, and Ambedkar Colony evolved. Some argue that 'colony' is after all an 'innocuous' word, without any 'caste' connotation. Hence, dropping the word 'colony' from the names of localities is pointless. They cite examples from urban areas such as Railway Colony and Jayendrar Colony which are secular sites that are home to people from all castes and creeds. But the reality in rural Tamil is quite different, where the word 'colony' has a totally different import. 'Colony' is exclusively used to refer to areas inhabited by lower castes. Beginning with the Portuguese in the 15th century, followed by the Spanish, the Dutch, the British, the French and the others, all of them set up colonies the world over including the Indian subcontinent. The European colonists also started using the word 'colony' to refer to the 'colonial quarters' where they lived within their 'colonised territories'. Primarily, those were 'European Colonies' or 'White Settlements'. Over the centuries, the usage was extended to refer to residential and housing colonies of all kinds with no connection to the 'colonial' enterprise. In what could be one of the most ironic twists of words acquiring strange meanings, the transformation of the word 'colony', from referring to 'elite colonial spaces' to that of 'localities of ostracised, lower caste Indians', is bizarre and difficult to fathom. The word 'colony' has acquired such social stigma and is a convenient tool to 'dog whistle' in rural India. With a person's residential address being an essential component of all kinds of 'official documents' such as the Aadhaar card, ration card, passport, bank passbook, voter id card, and driving licence to name a few, these caste specific settlement names including the ones ending with 'colony' immediately 'reveals' one's identity, triggering spontaneous prejudiced reactions, condescending attitudes and biased decisions from social peers and those in positions of authority. The realisation that they are being victimised merely because of belonging to a historically marginalised caste group has a devastating psychological impact on those who are subjected to such an ordeal. It might be quite impossible for anyone to relate to unless they have undergone this first hand. The marginalisation and the discrimination are not merely historical, but an ongoing reality for a significant part of Indian society. Usage over the centuries Historically, going back a few centuries, the word 'chery' or 'cherry' has come to be used to denote settlements of lower castes in Tamil Nadu. By the 20th century, 'cherry' and 'colony' became synonyms referring to the localities of untouchable castes. However, in ancient Tamil literature, the word 'chery' was quite a common word, referring to any settlement where the general public reside, and with no negative connotation. Tolkappiyam, one of the oldest Tamil compositions available, generally ascribed to the 7th century BCE, mentions 'chery'. Being a grammar book, it outlines rules for a genre of literature called 'Pulan' which can be roughly identified with 'Pallu' literature of the 16th century. A 'Pulan' literature should be composed of words that are spoken among common people which do not need any 'research' or interpretation. Tolkappiyam uses 'chery mozhi' as the 'language of common people'. The 18 ancient literary treatises called 'Patinnemelkanakku' from the last Tamil academy (roughly belonging to the Fifth century BCE) have copious references to the word 'chery'. 'Kurunthokai', the celebrated 'Akam' poetry collection, has six references. All the references use the word 'chery' with the meaning of a place everyone in a village lives. There is no evidence of 'chery' being used in a demeaning way. The 'Aha-nanooru' collection has 15 references to the word 'Chery'. Silappathikaram, written in the Second century CE, refers to the outskirts of Madurai where Kovalan and Kannaki rested along with the Samana monk, 'Kavunthi Adigal', and has 'puranchery', which literally means 'settlement on the outskirts'. The text also mentions that it is the habitation site of 'Brahmins'. Emerging between the Sixth and Ninth centuries CE, the social and political impact of the Bhakti movement was more sharply felt later by the Cholas. Grand temple building accelerated at break-neck pace with their ascent. Some gods got sanctified as 'mainstream' gods, while others became marginalised. The rise of grand temples brought about a sea change in the way social organisation functioned and how institutions of knowledge production and knowledge dissemination operated. 'Periya Puranam' composed by Sekkizhar during the 12th century CE mentions 'theendachery', literally meaning 'Untouchable chery'. Villages and towns were partitioned to designate certain areas as 'untouchable' quarters. The remnants of these restrictions survive to this day even after the various struggles of the 19th and 20th centuries to abolish them. It was during one of these struggles that 'Thanthai Periyar' courted prison in Vaikkom. Vijayanagar rule followed in the 14th century. Under Madurai, Gingee and Thanjavur Nayakkas, the varnashrama dharma was sought to be implemented with extraordinary brutality during the 14th and 17th centuries, further strengthening the social and physical segregation of communities. Rule by a fragmented polity followed leading to Europeans gaining a firm foothold in Tamil Nadu. On the social front, existing schisms only grew deeper. Mahatma Gandhi coined the word 'Harijan' to refer to untouchable castes. It is ironic that the term coined to symbolically 'elevate' their status joined the already rich repertoire of oppressive instruments of humiliation, stigma, exclusion and prejudice. 'Harijan Colony' became a ghettoised reference for Dalit settlements. Iyothee Thass Pandithar urged the adoption of the term 'Adi-Dravidar'. M.C. Rajah of the Justice Party government in the Madras Presidency, passed a resolution in the Madras Legislative Assembly in 1922 to group all untouchable castes under the category of 'Adi-Dravidar' instead of 'Parayar' and 'Panchamar' communities. However, even the term 'Adi-Dravidar' joined the list of dreaded words. In perspective Under British rule, there was a regimented method of classifying and documenting everything in official records, which included even derogatory names of lower caste habitations. Words such as 'cheri' and 'colony' are being used exclusively used to identify Dalit neighbourhoods. Though restricted to rural Tamil Nadu, the government needs to take its administrative move to spearhead positive social change. Places such as 'Velachery' or 'Pondichery' do not signify any degrading reference and are treated as regular place names meant for everyone. Cities will continue to have area names ending with 'Colony' such as 'Saibaba Colony'. However, references to 'colony' and 'chery' in rural areas will be removed. Instead, they will have the names of popular flowers or poets or scientists. The names of political leaders will be strictly avoided. While this is not a welfare scheme announcement, it is a measure taken with a long-term view to encourage positive social change in the endeavour to achieve greater social integration. Only a socially cohesive society can achieve progress and collective prosperity. To that end it is both a 'symbolic' and 'historic' gesture. Imayam is a Tamil novelist, currently serving as the Vice-Chairperson of the Tamil Nadu State Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
