Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu’s Education Crisis: DMK’s Anti-NEP Stance Is A Political Blunder Costing Students Their Future

Indian Professor

Feb 17, 2025, 05:38 PM | Updated Feb 18, 2025, 12:58 PM IST


Government school students in Tamil Nadu with bindis and Namam on their heads. (McKay Savage via Wikimedia Commons)
Government school students in Tamil Nadu with bindis and Namam on their heads. (McKay Savage via Wikimedia Commons)
  • Tamil Nadu is losing out on crucial central funds that could have been used to upgrade school infrastructure, train teachers, and implement transformative schemes aimed at foundational literacy
  • Ever since the DMK came to power in 2021, Chief Minister M K Stalin and his colleagues have only focused on going against the policies of the central government, for political pettiness.

    The significant one is the non-adoption of the National Education Policy, 2020 for political reasons. Due to this, much of the critical funding for education has been halted by the central government. This means that the DMK government has failed to develop critical infrastructure and bring in systemic reforms in the education sector, as made evident in recent ASER findings.

    The Union Budget 2024-25 has allocated Rs 78,752 crore for education, with over 60 per cent tied to NEP-linked schemes, the state’s refusal to adopt the policy has already blocked access to about Rs 2,400 crore in central grants from previous years.

    While other states have been benefitting from the provision of NEP, DMK’s stubbornness without a roadmap for education has directly contributed to the worsening education outcome in Tamil Nadu, affecting 43 lakh students and 2 lakh teachers. DMK’s promise of a State Education Policy has never seen the light even after almost 4 years. This shows that the DMK administration is clueless about the plans for education for the state.

    NEP’s first and foremost goal is to transform India’s education system by moving beyond rote learning and encouraging critical thinking. Despite the state’s better educational performance in the past, there are critical gaps in both school education and higher education. NEP offers the solutions to those gaps. Implementing NEP could have further solidified Tamil Nadu’s position as an educational frontrunner. But the children of Tamil Nadu are paying for the cost of DMK’s arrogance.

    Tamil Nadu is losing out on crucial central funds that could have been used to upgrade school infrastructure, train teachers, and implement transformative schemes aimed at foundational literacy and numeracy. The state has forfeited Rs 2,152 crore in Samagra Shiksha funds for the year 2024-25, alongside Rs 249 crore from the previous year’s allocation.

    In a poor attempt to revive the outdated anti-Hindi agitation, the DMK falsely claims that NEP 2020 is an attempt to impose Hindi and erase Tamil from mainstream education. This is nothing but fearmongering at its worst! NEP 2020 has no provision mandating Hindi as the third language. The NEP offers a provision to promote Indian languages across the country. By neglecting this, the DMK is missing a golden opportunity to promote Tamil language education at a national level.

    Beyond language politics, DMK’s opposition to NEP extends to other crucial educational reforms all at the cost of Tamil Nadu’s youth. DMK refuses to adopt the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) structure, foolishly clinging to an outdated 5+3+2+2 model.

    Globally, research proves that a strong preschool foundation is critical for long-term academic success. The 2017 Indian Early Childhood Education Impact Study (IECEI) found that children who received quality early education performed better in primary grades and were less likely to drop out.

    Yet, DMK dismisses this evidence, failing to acknowledge that skipping structured preschool education hurts children’s cognitive development and future learning potential. While the Modi Government through NEP 2020 is focused on moving India’s youth away from rote learning, DMK remains stuck in the past, holding Tamil Nadu’s students back.

    In their 2021 election manifesto, DMK promised to rebuild 10,000 dilapidated government schools but has failed to lay a single brick in four years. Instead, it is pushing for the adoption of 500 government schools by the Tamil Nadu Private Schools Association, betraying poor and working-class families who depend on public education.

    While the central government enhances government schools through initiatives like PM SHRI, DMK resists collaboration, favouring privatisation and neglecting public education. This is a persistent issue highlighted even in the 2022 CAG report, which exposed inadequate funding, delays in teacher recruitment, and a severe shortfall in teaching posts, contributing to a broken education system.

    The DMK Government’s rejection of NEP 2020 is producing jobless graduates in Tamil Nadu. According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2022-23, the state’s graduate unemployment rate stands at a staggering 16.3 per cent, well above the national average of 13.4 per cent, while youth unemployment (ages 15-29) has soared to 17.5 per cent - a stark contrast to the all-India rate of 10 per cent.

    Instead of equipping students with quality education, the DMK prioritises political posturing over real educational reforms. DMK has deliberately held Tamil Nadu’s youth back, all while falsely claiming to champion their future.

    ASER Report: Education Crisis Deepens Amid NEP Rejection

    While MK Stalin is busy securing his son’s political future, Tamil Nadu’s children are being abandoned. The latest ASER 2024 report exposes the disastrous consequences of rejecting the visionary NEP 2020 policy.

    1. The percentage of Class VIII students in government schools who can read a Class II-level text has plummeted from 75 per cent in 2018 to a dismal 62.2 per cent in 2024.

    2. In Standard V, the percentage of children in government schools who can read a Standard II-level text has dropped from 46.3 per cent in 2018 to 37 per cent in 2024.

    3. 60 per cent of Class VIII students in Tamil Nadu cannot perform basic division, revealing a serious decline in numeracy as well.

    4. More than 14.4 per cent of schools lack drinking water, and 7.9 per cent of those that have it, provide unsafe supplies which is worse than 2018 levels, and this directly impacts students' health and learning.

    5. In 2022, 58.8 per cent of 4-year-old children were enrolled in Anganwadis. However, this percentage has decreased by 10 percentage points with a major shift happening towards, private pre-schools

    The rhetoric of the so-called Dravidian Model is crumbling under the political pettiness of MK Stalin. The DMK, failing in the spirit of cooperative federalism, jeopardises education in Tamil Nadu. The chief minister, with misguided counsel, is failing to find a middle ground to implement the NEP and its revolutionary provisions, thereby sabotaging the future of children's education for political gains.

    In the past allegations have been raised against the misuse of central funds under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). NEP offers solutions to monitor spending under SSA through various parameters, ensuring the transformation of integrated schooling. DMK's stubborn refusal to implement NEP can be perceived as an attempt to misappropriate funds meant for integrated schooling.

    The best course of action for DMK is to adopt the National Education Policy, avail funding for Tamil Nadu, and implement the futuristic ideals of Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan. This would significantly enhance the state's educational system, benefiting thousands of students and teachers.


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