A cross-section of academics, activists and members of the civil society has issued a statement urging the Tamil Nadu government to stop the bifurcation of Anna University and clarify its stand on the implementation of the National Education Policy-2020.
The statement, issued on Thursday, questioned the need for bifurcating the university if the State government’s claim that it was not in favour of the Institute of Eminence (IoE) status for the university was indeed true.
The signatories included retired judge of Madras High Court Justice D. Hariparanthaman; former Vice-Chancellor of Anna University M. Anandakrishnan; and former Vice-Chancellor of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University V. Vasanthi Devi.
Condemning Anna University Vice-Chancellor M.K. Surappa for allegedly bypassing the State government and writing directly to the Union government to proceed with the IoE status for the institution, the statement asked what action had been taken by the State government against him. It urged the State to clarify its stand on various issues in the National Education Policy, which it said would transfer the control of education fully to the Union government. “The State government has stopped with just opposing the three-language formula in the NEP. What happened to the committee formed to study the NEP and its impacts,” it asked.
The statement contended that the Union government’s IoE scheme would make education inaccessible to those from socio-economically disadvantaged groups at the State-run universities.
Arguing that the grant of the IoE status would take away the State government’s control over the university, the statement said the scheme, along with the NEP, must be vehemently opposed.
Justice Hariparanthaman, who spoke at the virtual conference organised to release the statement, criticised the State for not opposing the erosion of the State’s autonomy.
“Late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa never allowed that, be it NEET, the Food Security Act or appointment of persons from outside Tamil Nadu as Vice-Chancellors of universities here,” he said.
