Tamil Nadu rejects Three language formula of NEP 2020 – Burning Issues – Free PDF Download

• Tamil Nadu has rejected 3-language formula in NEP 2020 and  says it will stick to existing policy of two languages.
• TN CM E. K. Palaniswami said the three-language formula in the NEP is ‘painful and saddening’ .

NEP 2020

NEP 2020

• DMK described NEP & three language formula as “anti-democratic”.
• VCK in TN said NEP took away the autonomy of States and attempted to give a saffron tinge to education, that too at the time of a pandemic.
• TNCC alleged that NEP 2020 is an attempt to saffronise education. It is an attempt to communalise education and cause danger to the ideas of secularism.
• PMK said new NEP had many good aspects but also has many aspects which are dangerous too especially proposal of adopting a three language policy is not acceptable.
• Makkal Needhi Maiam founder Kamal Haasan welcomed NEPs proposal that 6% of GDP would be spent on education but rejects three language formula.

Three-language formula

• Since 1937, Tamil Nadu has consistently opposed the decision to make Hindi compulsory in schools. The founder of Dravidar Kazhagam, Periyar E.V. Ramasamy opposed the decision of then Madras chief minister C. Rajagopalachari to make Hindi mandatory.
• In 1950, Constituent assembly adopted Munshi-Ayyangar formula.
  • English was to continue as the official language of India along with Hindi for a period of fifteen years but the limit was elastic and the power of extension was given to the Parliament.
• 1965 : Lal Bahadur Shastri’s Hindi policy led to furore in south India.
• Indira Gandhi govt ultimately amended The Official Languages Act in 1967 by which provided for indefinite usage of English and Hindi as the official languages of the country.

Three-language formula

• The three-language formula was first incorporated in the National Education Policy 1968 by Indira Gandhi govt.
  • Hindi-speaking states : English, Hindi and a modern Indian language.
  • Non-Hindi speaking states:  English, Hindi and one Indian language.
• The formula was implemented across the country in 1968, barring Tamil Nadu that adopted a two-language policy.
• However, in other states also the implementation was not uniform.
  • In many of the Hindi-speaking states, Sanskrit became the third language instead of any modern Indian language (preferably south Indian language), whereas the non-Hindi speaking state such as Tamil Nadu operate through a two-language formula.

Constitution on language

• Article 29 protects the interests of minorities.
  • any section of the citizens who have a “…distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same.”
• Article 347 gives the President the power to recognise a language as an official language of a given state, provided that the President is satisfied that a substantial proportion of that state desires that the language be recognised.
• Article 350A facilities for instruction in mother-tongue at the primary stage.
• Article 343 Official language shall be Hindi in Devnagri script, and numerals should follow the international form of Indian numerals. English also to be used as an official language for 15 years from the commencement of the Constitution.
• Article 351 gives power to the union government to issue a directive for development of the Hindi language

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