Tamil Nadu’s stance on NEP

The Centre and Tamil Nadu once again have differences over the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The disagreement is between the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, through exchanging letters and now have began over tweets.

What is the argument about?

The Centre did not release the state's share of funds to Tamil Nadu for the implementation of Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan(SSA) .It is a school education program which helps to provide uniforms and textbooks to students in government schools for children belonging to economically Weaker Section and disadvantaged categories.

And this has led to serious exchange between the Centre and the state.
MK Stalin wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month, in August asking for the SSA funds. He mentioned the Centre’s first instalment of Rs 573 crore to the State for FY 2024-25 is overdue, and that another Rs 249 crore from the previous financial year is also pending.

In response the education minister Dharmendra Pradhan replied. Centre has released all four instalments for the previous year.

Is there Something more?
The Centre and Tamil Nadu have a long disagreement over the educational policy.
The Centre has connected the release of SSA funds to other scheme, which is PM-SHRI, Pradhan Mantri Schools for rising India: turning existing schools into exemplar ones which showcase the aspects of the NEP 2020.

Apart from this disagreement, Tamil Nadu also has concerns with the three language aspect of NEP, the three languages which students will learn can be chosen by the States, regions, and students themselves, as long as at least two of the three languages are native to India.

The concerns raised by the Tamil Nadu leaders is
Schools in Tamil Nadu follow a two-language system where students learn Tamil and English. The possibility of having to include Hindi, and the “imposition” of Hindi or Sanskrit in case of a three-language policy.

To address this concern the state also submitted a draft for State Education Policy to the centre.