SEP gets final touches, report by next month

CHENNAI: The much anticipated Tamil Nadu State Education Policy (SEP) preparation was over with the expert committee members giving final touches before submitting it to the government, which is likely before mid of this September.

The panel, under the head of retired High Court Judge D Murugesan, conducted a series of review meetings to give shape to SEP, which should have been released by May this year. However, one of the senior members and convener of the expert committee, Jawahar Nesan, resigned, citing harassment from the senior officials while preparing the SEP.

After rejecting the allegations, the state has inducted new members into the expert panel and also instructed to draft the SEP by the end of this September.

A senior official from the Higher Education Department, seeking anonymity, told DT Next that the draft SEP has been completed and it is waiting for the expert committee to approve it this month itself. “Accordingly, the committee has planned to meet this month end to finalise it,” he added.

Disclosing certain aspects of the SEP, the official said that though the state has rejected the National Education Policy, some good aspects were taken from it at school and as well as at higher education level. “However, the government still stuck to a two-language policy in the SEP,” he said adding, “there will not be entrance exams for higher education courses in the state-run universities and colleges.”

Pointing out that the SEP also rejected common exams at primary school level, he said, “the SEP will follow 10+2+3 or (4) (10th standard, Class 12 and UG courses at college level. The official said, “the SEP will also have aspects of improving welfare measures for both school and college students.”

Claiming that most of the genuine feedback and suggestions were also taken from the educationists and the stakeholders before coming out with the SEP, he said the policy would not only bring more employment opportunities, but also encourage entrepreneurs in the state.

Stating that unlike the common syllabus, the SEP will be uniformly adopted by all the state-run universities and colleges, he said “more technology aspects are expected to be introduced in the policy for the schools and colleges, which would benefit the students in the long run.”

The official also hinted that once the SEP report was submitted to the state for its final approval, the implementation of it is also expected to be from the next academic year.