Samacheer Kalvi (Equitable Standard School Education) will not be abandoned by the government, C.Ve. Shanmugam, Minister for School Education Minister, has said.
In an interaction with Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders and Students Federation of India representatives, Mr. Shanmugam assured them that Samacheer Kalvi would most certainly implemented by the government; there was no question of abandoning it.
According to the Cabinet decision, half-baked implementation would not improve quality of the education and, therefore, it was decided to introduce the system based on recommendations from the expert committee (to be constituted), he said.
The minister's assurance was given to the team, including CPI (M) legislator A. Soundararajan, State Committee member Arumuga Nayinar and SFI representatives Stalin, Kanagaraj, K. Rajmohan and Kumar.
The CPI (M) representatives called on the Minister after the newly sworn in Cabinet's decision not to implement equitable standard school education temporarily created apprehensions among students, parents and academics.
Mr. Soundararajan asked the Minister to fix the fee in schools to ensure affordability to even poor people and set a time-frame for introducing Samacheer Kalvi.
The SFI submitted a petition demanding proper implementation of Right to Education and for issuance of community certificates and facilities for registering in employment exchanges in schools itself.
Mr. Shanmugam told them that he assumed office only a week ago and assured them that the government would take necessary steps in all issues pertaining to school education.
