Pradhan makes fresh attack amid NEP furore

Unification training government minister Dharmendra Pradhan on tues doubled shoot down on his criticism of Tamil Nadu’s DMK government for opposing and not implementing the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. During the marathon seven-hour long discussion on education in the Rajya Sabha, Pradhan stated that multilingualism is the need of the hour. Highlighting the issues in Tamil Nadu, which follows the two-language formula, he said, “In Tamil Nadu in 2018-19, the number of students in Tamil medium was 54% of the total, while English medium students were 45%. In 2023-24, these numbers were 36.3% in Tamil medium and 63.4% in English medium. What is your opposition to NEP, which advocates teaching students up to Class 5 in Tamil in Tamil Nadu?” he argued. Before Pradhan’s replies, opposition MPs in the Rajya Sabha targeted the government over NEP provisions, including the three-language formula, disbursal of Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) funds and fellowships for students, alleging that the policy is limiting the access to education for marginalised communities’ students. They raised concerns over the closure of government schools, teacher vacancies and the functioning of the higher education regulator UGC.Congress leader Digvijaya Singh initiated the discussion and said NEP has recommended the consolidation of primary schools into school complexes, which is resulting in closures of government schools and hence violating the Right To Education (RTE) Act, which mandates that a primary school should be available within a kilometre of a child’s home. “In a reply in Parliament, the government informed that 90,000 public schools were closed between 2014 and 2024... The government data shows that about 50,000 new private schools have come up after 2014, which will charge high fees. This shows that NEP is promoting costly education,” he added. He further criticised the government for designating 620 of the 661 JNVs and 869 of the 1,256 KVs as Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI). “Funds under Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) have been blocked for states which did not sign agreement with the central government over PM SHRI scheme. It is a violation of our constitutional rights. The government has blocked over ₹1,000 crores to West Bengal, ₹859.63 crore to Kerala, and ₹2,152 crores to Tamil Nadu,” he added. Launched in September 2022, PM SHRI scheme follows a 60:40 funding model between the Centre and the states. Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and West Bengal are yet to implement the PM SHRI scheme. Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin and Pradhan have sparred over this issue for at least the past month. Speaking in the Lok Sabha on Monday, Pradhan accused Tamil Nadu of agreeing to implement PM SHRI and then changing its mind. After Stalin denied this and targeted him, the Union minister on Tuesday shared on X a letter from the state’s then chief secretary dated March 15, 2024 expressing its keenness to sign an agreement to implement PM SHRI.“DMK MPs and Hon’ble CM can stack lies as high as they want, but the truth doesn’t bother knocking when it comes crashing down. The DMK dispensation led by Hon’ble CM Stalin have a lot to answer to the people of Tamil Nadu,” he said. “DMK MPs and Hon’ble CM can stack lies as high as they want, but the truth doesn’t bother knocking when it comes crashing down. The DMK dispensation led by Hon’ble CM Stalin have a lot to answer to the people of Tamil Nadu. In response, DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai clarified that the former chief secretary had not sent a consent letter, but was a contingent undertaking which is based on the recommendation of a state-level committee led by the school education secretary. “The TN CS (chief secretary) has given a contingent undertaking, which is based on the recommendation of the committee. This isn’t a consent letter,” he said on X.In the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, Singh and another Congress MP Imran Pratapgarhi also targeted NCERT for alleged communalism in its textbooks. “Portions related to the communal situation in the country after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, the fundamentalists’ disagreement with Gandhiji’s concept of Hindu-Muslim unity have been removed,” Singh said. Questioning the changes , Pratapgarhi said, “In an attempt to teach false history, chapters on Hindu-Muslim unity are being removed. There were changes in the Delhi University political science syllabus, including the removal of (chapters on) Mahatma Gandhi, Babasaheb Ambedkar, Mohammed Iqbal and research reports on the Constitution. How will young people be prepared for the world when you teach false history?” Countering this, Pradhan claimed NCERT was an independent body that carried out some revisions based on its assessment. He also alleged that the textbooks were revised in 2005 (when the Congress-led UPA was in power) with an ulterior motive. “Everyone knows who killed Gandhi...but can we blame the full community for it, the full Brahmin community for it? Should we teach students that? Should we permit it,” said Pradhan in Rajya Sabha while replying to the discussion on the working of the education ministry. As part of rationalisation process to help students make a “speedy recovery” in learning, which has been hit by Covid-19 disruptions, NCERT in April 2023 had deleted the reference to Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse as “a Brahmin from Pune” from a Class 12 History textbook. Defending the deletion of the People’s Movement from National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks, Pradhan said, “Yes, we deleted. Do we call Naxalism a people’s movement? No, we won’t and hence we deleted. It is better to amend errors than let mistakes persist.” Pradhan, also said the Union government is not “ imposing any language on anyone, not taking away anybody’s rights.” The DMK has alleged that the three-language policy is a ploy to impose Hindi. To be sure, NEP 2020 does not mandate Hindi as the third language in states where it is not spoken. “We do not like to impose any subject on anyone, but we are proud of Indianness and Indian languages. In the National Education Policy, no language has been imposed. ..Hence in this budget we have announced the Bhasha Pustak Yojana, which will see textbooks digitised for all 22 scheduled languages, as well as English. Indian is a multi-lingual country. NCERT has published primers in 104 languages of all the states to enable better studying among children,” he said. CPI (M) MP John Brittas targeted the centre over UGC draft guidelines 2025 on faculty appointments in universities and colleges. “The government is indulging in complete take over of the higher education.... He (Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan) wants to take over all the universities built by the sweat and blood of the states. If we speak about federalism, he should immediately withdraw the guidelines issued by UGC.” His reference was to the war of words between the Tamil Nadu government and the Centre over NEP 2020 which makes implementation of three language formula mandatory. Tamil Nadu, which has a two-language one, has opposing NEP with concerns over the possible imposition of Hindi or Sanskrit under the three-language policy.A total of 29 Rajya Sabha MPs participated in the discussion.

---