Source: Times of India
CHENNAI, INDIA, January 21, 2002: The Tamil Nadu government’s educational policy would only allow a two-language formula in school education and the recommendation for a three-language formula in the curriculum made by National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) will not be accepted by the State, education Minister M Thambidurai said today. The State government had no objection if anyone wanted to learn Hindi on their own. “The problem is that as far as Hindi is concerned it does not serve any purpose for Tamilians except for getting into the Central Services,” he said. Starting Hindi medium schools and reserving job opportunities only to the Hindi-knowing community would result in the death of regional languages, Thambidurai said and added that Tamil Nadu would not allow such things to happen at any cost. Tamils are especially concerned that children be able to read the extensive Tamil religious literature. Regarding the need for English medium schools, he said that English was a window to the world community to understand modern science and technological changes.