India TV Speed News Education Conclave: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today lashed out at Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, saying, "He is engaged in an imaginary fight that has nothing to do with ground reality. He is trying to hide his governance deficit by opposing the National Education Policy".
Speaking at the India TV Speed News Education Conclave here, Pradhan was asked by anchor Saurav Sharma about Stalin threatening to launch a "language war" against the Centre over the three-language policy in NEP.
Pradhan replied, "Let Stalin Ji show a single sentence in the National Education Policy that shows any language, like Hindi, can be imposed on any state. The first conditionality in NEP is that education must be imparted to students till Class 8 in their mother tongue. Children studying in their mother tongue can be nurtured to become critical thinkers and good decision-makers."
The Union Minister said: "Even in bordering areas of Tamil Nadu, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada are being taught in schools. I think Stalin Ji is facing political compulsion, which has nothing to do with ground reality. Earlier we had several rounds of talks, and even the Chief Minister agreed, but later they backed out. It seems there is a new leadership emerging in their party which wants to oppose NEP. Stalin Ji has no confidence in his own governance, and in order to avoid replying to voters, he wants a new plank."
Pradhan claimed, "In the last 78 years, no government since Independence had worked more for the Tamil language than Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He set up the first Thiruvalluvar Cultural Centre in Singapore, which was hailed by the Tamil community globally. Tamil Chairs were established in prestigious universities worldwide."
The minister said: "Stalin Ji is making a futile attempt to hide his governance deficit by raising the language issue. Even in my state, Odisha, Telugu, Bengali and Hindi are being taught in bordering areas. Then where is the problem?"
Pradhan said, "I don't find why Stalin Ji should object to the young generation from Tamil Nadu trying to become multilingual. I met a Tamil girl student from Anna Nagar in IIT Kharagpur who told me that she spoke fluent Hindi. When I asked her the reason, she replied that if one wants to be an entrepreneur, one needs to go to the national market for selling the product."
Explaining the NEP, Pradhan said: "Already we are in the fifth year of NEP, with the first two years affected by the Covid epidemic. In the next five years, we want to leapfrog, because the NEP was supposed to last for ten years. Already in a disruptive new world, the time of new technology has shrunk from 25 years to 10 years to six months now. Indian students have inherent capacity. Our female students are on top in STEM education, and India has the added advantage of ethical living along with a good social fabric. NEP will prove to be the game changer in a fast-changing world."
The minister said skill education will be introduced in schools from Class 6. "From Class 6 to Class 8, there will be orientation; Class 9 and 10 will be devoted to nurturing aptitudes, and Class 11 and 12 will focus on specialisation."
For the full video link of the interview, please click here: