In response to NEP, Tamil Nadu forms panel to frame its own education policy

While it had been announced in the Budget, the idea of a new State Education Policy was mooted first in response to the ongoing move by the Centre to implement the National Education Policy. In December last year, the state school education minister had made it clear that the draft of the policy, to be prepared in a few months by the experts’ panel, will be self-explanatory to Tamil Nadu’s position towards NEP.

The panel members have been drawn from diverse sectors.

Tamil Nadu’s opposition to the NEP is based on several grounds: the NEP system of common entrance tests for UG programmes, introduction of a three-language formula when the state is following the two-language policy, and conducting common exams for classes III, V and VIII, among others. The state is also against the idea of a four-year degree programme with an option for multiple exits, fearing that it will increase dropouts and two types of graduates.

But the primary reason for the DMK’s NEP opposition is its pothat the NEP intrudes into education, a crucial domain of the state.