Tamil Nadu has not opposed the National Education Policy (NEP) but has submitted recommendations for consideration, Union Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar claimed on Saturday. The purported opposition to implementing the Centre's NEP is a speculation and a projection only in the media, he said.
"I have a copy of the letter written by the Tamil Nadu government furnishing its recommendations regarding the NEP. I think some of the recommendations like those on Anganwadis, can be taken on a positive note," the Minister told reporters here.
Sarkar, who made a brief stop-over here after addressing the 5th convocation of the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) at Sri City in Chittoor, said "the Tamil Nadu government responded to the NEP and has given its observations very nicely."
These would be discussed, as some issues need to be sorted out, he said. "Tamil Nadu's opposition to the NEP was only a fabrication of the media. The State government has not written against the policy in the letter," the Minister said.
On the State government's move on having its own policy for education, Sarkar replied that the NEP is a broader framework which the Centre gave to improve the quality of education and ensure uniformity throughout the country.
"We gave a national curriculum for the States to work on the NEP framework," he asserted and said that just as every state has its education policy, Tamil Nadu may have said it will have its own policy.
On the two-language policy of the state government, which is opposed to implementation of Hindi, the Minister said the Centre did not compel anyone to learn a particular language. Learning a language was a matter of choice exercised by the students, parents or the public.
"The Centre is promoting education through one's mother tongue and all languages including Tamil should flourish," Sarkar said. In order to ensure proper and qualitatively good education, the roots should be strengthened and Indian knowledge systems should be gained by all the students in all subjects, he emphasised.
(With PTI Inputs)
