Stating that the draft New Education Policy was against the interests of underprivileged students, a tripartite conference of teachers, parents and students held here on Sunday urged the Central government to drop the proposal immediately.
A resolution passed at the conference, chaired by the Dravidar Kazhagam president, K. Veeramani, said that the policy ostensibly aimed at providing alternative means of education for the underprivileged, poor and oppressed sections of the society would actually deny them opportunities to pursue higher education.
Implementation of uniform syllabus from LKG to Plus Two across the country was not possible in a country, which is known for its multi-dimensional and multi-cultural nature. It would reduce the importance of regional languages. It would also force people to learn in languages other than their mother tongues. The new education policy was an attempt to revive Sanskrit and was nothing but an attempt of “saffronisation” of education by right wing political parties. Under no circumstances, the people of Tamil Nadu would accept the proposal. Hence, the Central government should withdraw the proposal immediately, they said.
Through another resolution, the conference urged the Central government to withdraw the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) for medical admissions. It would do away the benefits of social justice and reservation for the backward, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes. The Tamil Nadu government had stopped the practice of entrance test for professional courses in 2007. The NEET would prevent the socially oppressed sections from getting admission to medicine courses. The Central government should not disturb the existing system of admitting students in professional courses, it demanded.
