Leading Tamil Educationist Urges TN CM Stalin To Implement National Education Policy In The State

A leading educationist from the state of Tamil Nadu has urged Chief Minister M K Stalin to implement the National Education Policy (NEP) in the state at the earliest.

In a letter addressed to the chief minister, Professor Dr E Balaguruswamy highlighted that it has been over a year since NEP was approved by the Union government and all states in the country, with the exception of Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, have begun the process of implementation of the same.

He further underscored that the higher education in the state should not go the way the school education did by not implementing the National Curriculum Framework 2005 (NCF2005) of NCERT. He added that the non-implementation of NCF2005 led to a deterioration in the quality of school education deteriorated to a level that the students of the state could not face any national level competitive exams like JEE and NEET.

"We heard some leaders saying that TN is number one in Higher Education and therefore we need not implement NEP. It is really an unfortunate and un-thoughtful statement, no doubt, we are number one in quantity (Gross Enrollment Ratio), but not in quality. Tamil Nadu ranks almost at the bottom of the list when it comes to the competence and employability of graduates. Industrial Associations say that only 15 to 20 per cent of graduates are employable. It is imperative that we cannot ignore the quality of higher education anymore," the letter noted.