Will not implement NEP in TN, reiterates Ponmudy
Guv Ravi at Central Univ makes strong pitch for the policy in State
Holding steadfast in its opposition to the New Education Policy (NEP) despite the strong pitch by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Chennai a day ago, the State government said on Friday that the policy would not be implemented in Tamil Nadu. In sharp contrast to this, Governor RN Ravi urged academicians to work for the implementation of the policy.
Speaking to the media here on Friday, Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy said the government has already highlighted several issues with the policy. “As we are in the process of formulating an exclusive State Education Policy, there is no need to implement NEP here,” he added.
To a question, Ponmudy said that though the All India Council for Technical Education has recommended hiking fees for higher education courses, it would not be increased in Tamil Nadu. The Minister stressed the government’s opposition to the policy after his response was sought about Prime Minister Modi’s comments on Thursday, in the presence of Chief Minister MK Stalin, that NEP would benefit the youth in Tamil Nadu. “The policy gives special importance to promoting Indian languages. Under NEP, technical and medical education can be pursued in local languages. The youngsters of Tamil Nadu will benefit from this,” the PM had said.
Meanwhile, in a clear indication that the Centre was equally unrelenting in pushing the policy, Governor Ravi asked academicians to suggest ideas that would help implement the policy in the right spirit. He was addressing a two-day national conference of Central University Vice-Chancellors on ‘devising action plan for faster and smoother implementation of NEP 2020’ at Tiruvarur.
According to him, many were commenting on the policy after reading articles but without reading the actual document. This was likely to mislead them, he said, urging the critics to read through the document carefully before commenting. “I suggest studying the document at length and come up with an action plan for implementation,” Ravi said.
Claiming that several action plans were devised during an earlier conference of Vice-Chancellors of State universities held in Ooty, he said the central university V-Cs who are part of the present conference should “take the implementation of NEP in the right spirit and see that the essence of the policy is not lost in letters”.
The policy was not just educational reform, he said, adding: “It is a revolutionary transformation.”