Tamil Nadu: State Education Policy may delay again due to restrictions under Model Code of Conduct

CHENNAI: The much-anticipated release of the state-owned education policy is expected to be further delayed as the Model Code of Conduct has not been lifted from the state.

As per the original schedule, the policy should have been released last September.

A proposal to appoint an expert committee of educationists and experts to derive an exclusive State-owned Education Policy (SEP) was announced in the Tamil Nadu Assembly in 2021.

After constituting the panel, headed by retired High Court Judge D Murugesan in 2022, a series of review meetings was held to give a shape to the SEP, which should have been released in May 2023.

However, one of the senior members and conveners of the panel, Jawahar Nesan, resigned, citing harassment from senior officials while preparing the policy. However, the state government denied his allegations and reconstituted the committee by adding new faces.

A senior official from the higher education department, seeking anonymity, told DT Next that the SEP was already prepared and kept ready for the state government's approval in November 2023 itself. "It (SEP) was waiting for the state government's approval", he said.

"However, when the then Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy faced disqualification as a legislator after his conviction, the release of SEP faced several hurdles", he said, adding that although Ponmudy has been reinstated as minister, there was not much improvement in releasing the SEP, as the date for the ongoing general elections had also been announced at the same time.

The official said that the draft SEP is expected to be released only after the announcement of the results of the general elections. "Even if the draft policy will be released after June 4, it has to be in public domain so that the stakeholders' concerned would give their feedback and suggestions for any amendments to the policy", he said, adding "this process will take at least two to three months before coming out with a final policy for implementation".

PB Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary of the State Platform for Common School System, said that the state government should ensure that the SEP should be released as soon as possible for the benefit of the students in the state.

"Further delay would put more pressure on the educational institutions as management of schools and colleges were expecting the SEP for a long time", he added.

Professor E Balagurusamy, former Anna University Vice Chancellor, said that the work on the SEP had started two years after the introduction of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. "The delay in implementing the SEP not only affects the students but also the institutions".

Meanwhile, though polling for all 39 constituencies in Tamil Nadu and the lone seat in Puducherry was over on April 19, the Model Code of Conduct will continue to be in place till the results for all the constituencies in the country are announced on June 4.