Decode Politics: Amid tussle with Centre over language, NEP, why Tamil Nadu has unveiled its own education policy

Indian Express

10-08-2025

When Chief Minister M K Stalin unveiled the 'Tamil Nadu State Education Policy – School Education, 2025' on August 8, it was not just another policy announcement.
What does the document say?
The policy's stated aim is 'to build an inclusive, equitable, resilient, and future-ready school education system that ensures holistic development, upholds social justice, and empowers learners with 21st-century skills and values rooted in Tamil Nadu's rich cultural heritage'.
It is designed as a 'living document,' to be reviewed every three years, with its 'future readiness' section updated annually. The emphasis is on tailoring solutions to Tamil Nadu's specific socio-cultural context while remaining adaptable to rapid technological and economic changes.
What are some of the key reforms suggested?
Some of the key reforms include abolishing board exams for Class 11, reversing a 2017 policy that required students to face three consecutive years of high-stakes exams (Classes 10, 11, and 12) that critics, including Stalin, argued was harmful to mental health.
Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN), the Ennum Ezhuthum Mission, launched in 2022, will remain the flagship initiative. Every child in Classes 1 to 3 is expected to achieve age-appropriate reading, writing, and arithmetic skills, with bridge courses for those in Classes 4 and 5 needing extra support. Assessments will cover both Tamil and English fluency and schools will institute 'Library Days' twice a year to promote reading culture.
Special provisions focusing on 'equity, inclusion, and social justice' target Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), minorities, first-generation learners, and children with special needs (CwSN). Measures include barrier-free infrastructure, scholarships, mentoring, and culturally responsive teaching practices. Annual 'equity audits' will be mandated at the school and district levels. Curriculum reform will focus on competency-based, inquiry-driven learning, with less rote content and more experiential projects.
Tamil Nadu's cultural heritage, environmental literacy, and progressive social movements will be integrated into lessons. Experiential learning, arts and sports integration, and bilingual approaches are to be standard across schools.
A new professional development ecosystem will use the Payirchi Paarvai digital platform, modular training, and peer mentoring. Teachers in tribal and disadvantaged areas will receive context-specific support. The TN-SPARK programme will expand AI, robotics, and coding education. Kalvi TV and the Manarkeni App will be upgraded as blended learning platforms, with virtual labs and interactive content. Digital safety and ethics will be part of the curriculum. The state will maintain its No Detention Policy for Classes 1–8. Assessments will shift from memorisation to conceptual understanding, with more project work, portfolios, and oral testing. Class 11 will become a preparatory year with continuous internal assessments.
Schools will be modernised with smart classrooms, labs, and green infrastructure like rainwater harvesting and solar panels. Vetri Palligal (Schools of Excellence) and Model Schools will serve as hubs for replicating best practices.
Is this policy shift designed to be a political counterweight?
By releasing its own SEP, Tamil Nadu has positioned itself as the first, and so far only, state to create a comprehensive alternative to the NEP. It signals an unwillingness to cede educational direction to the Union government, especially on language and governance.
Tamil Nadu's two-language policy — Tamil and English — is rooted in the anti-Hindi agitations of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1960s. The three-language formula, which includes Hindi, has been repeatedly resisted by both the DMK and AIADMK governments, making language policy one of the most sensitive political issues in the state. The SEP reiterates that education will be delivered in Tamil and English, with early mother-tongue instruction to strengthen conceptual clarity.
Since the NEP was announced in 2020, the DMK government has opposed it as 'against social justice' for its alleged centralising tendencies and perceived push toward Hindi. Tamil Nadu argues that the NEP's structure undermines state rights, particularly its Clause 4.13, which envisages the three-language formula.
In May, the state filed a petition in the Supreme Court alleging the Centre had withheld Rs 2,291.30 crore in Samagra Shiksha and other education funds as retaliation for non-implementation of the NEP.
The SEP explicitly favours decentralised governance — strengthening School Management Committees, community partnerships, and district-level planning — in contrast to what the DMK views as the NEP's top-down approach.
What is the biggest challenge?
While the document has multiple policy measures, schemes, and strategies aimed directly at upgrading and strengthening government schools, experts raise the question of implementation.
There are 58,800 schools under government, government-aided, and private management in the state, in which 1.16 crore students are enrolled. Around 3 lakh teachers serve across these schools.
Leading educationist Balaji Sampath, founder of the Association for India's Development and the Aha Guru classes for school students, who has been closely involved in large-scale literacy campaigns in Tamil Nadu and across the country lauded the SEP's focus on basic literacy and numeracy, something the NEP also talks about
'This state policy is coming now partly because the government is opposing the NEP. The real issue, however, is strengthening the public school system. Some of the most privatised countries in the world have effective public education systems. In Tamil Nadu, we have handed over most of our education system to private players and we use some minor bandages or policy documents. I don't know how much this will bring about a broader change,' he said.
Sampath said he wished for a policy that mentioned in no uncertain terms that the number of public schools would be increased, or chart a roadmap to improve the quality of government schools and for the government to take over all schools in the long run.
'From a parent's point of view, according to an assessment and sample survey I was part of recently across Tamil Nadu, with samples from a village in every block, the situation is worrying,' he said, adding that villagers were not happy with schools.