The issue of language has once again dominated the public as well as political discourse in Tamil Nadu, with academics and DMK objecting to CBSE conducting a quiz competition only in Hindi and English, ignoring the state’s language.
The issue arose when the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) recently issued a circular stating that an online quiz program will be organised in commemoration of Mahatma Gandhi’s 151st birth anniversary in Hindi and English languages only. The circular has not mentioned the state or regional languages.
In the circular, the CBSE board has specified that quiz competition will be conducted only in English and Hindi for the students studying in CBSE schools.
In its circular, the Tamil Nadu School Education department has specified that the quiz competition being organised by the CBSE will be conducted only in Hindi and English even in the government-run schools.
As the image of the circular went viral on social media, several academics have objected to the circular’s ‘language options’ as issued by the CBSE and TN School education department to conduct quiz competition only in Hindi and English.
The academics argue that most of the students in the government-run schools neither understand Hindi nor are they proficient in English language. Hence, they will have problem attempting the quiz.
DMK MP Kanimozhi has demanded that the quiz competition conducted by the CBSE should be held in all state languages. Criticising the directive of the CBSE, the DMK leader added that the “Central government-run educational institution has ignored Tamil in their quiz competition.”
This issue has surfaced when the ruling AIADMK government has rejected the central government’s three-language formula in the New Education Policy. The DMK has already criticised the Central government for allegedly imposing Hindi in the non-Hindi speaking states.