Tamil Nadu Stands United Against Centre’s Draft Education Plan Aiming to Make Hindi Mandatory in All Schools

The draft of the new policy i.e. a three-language system in schools all over India was handed over to Education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.

Chennai: As #TNAgainstHindiImposition and #StopHindiImposition trended on micro-blogging website Twitter, politicians from Tamil Nadu on Saturday erupted in protest over centre’s proposal on the three-language system in schools all over India.

One of the eminent politicians and Makkal Needhi Maiam founder Kamal Haasan told news agency ANI that Hindi language should not be imposed on everyone. “I have acted in many Hindi films, in my opinion Hindi language should not be imposed on anyone,” he said.

Echoing the similar sentiment, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader T Siva said that if any attempts were made to enforce Hindi language on people of Tamil Nadu, then they would oppose it fiercely. “The attempt to force Hindi language on people of Tamil Nadu will not be tolerated by its people. We are ready to face any consequences to stop Hindi language being forced on the people here,” T Siva said.

Time and again, people of Tamil Nadu have come together to attempts to make Hindi language mandatory in schools. The state had witnessed anti-Hindi protests back in 1937. In another event in 1965, around 70 people were killed in the state while battling with the issue, NDTV said in its report. However, the Centre then assured that Hindi would not be imposed on anyone.

Cut to now, the draft of the new policy i.e. a three-language system in schools all over India was handed over to Education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.

The National Education Policy 2019, drafted by an expert committee, states that while the Hindi-speaking states of the country will include English and one of the modern Indian language in addition to Hindi while the non-Hindi speaking states in India would also include Hindi along with a regional language and English. The Draft National Education Policy 2019 further said that “children will now be immersed in three languages early on, starting from the Foundational Stage onwards.”

A committee led by Chairman Dr K Kasturirangan on Friday submitted the Draft National Educational Policy 2019, which recommends among other things the overhauling of education structure and expansion of Right to Education (RTE).