Is Tamil Nadu Govt’s Opposition to the Three Language Policy Justifiable? 

The central government has been rolling out its very ambitious National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 which is the biggest educational reform conceived so far in independent India. There have been hundreds of seminars and symposia throughout the nation about the NEP and its implementation. Almost all the states have fallen in line with the central government and have adopted NEP 2020 but the provision of a mandatory three languages formula faces opposition from the Tamil Nadu government. The Union Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan eventually made it clear that Tamil Nadu has to adopt the three languages formula and this has opened up a political war between the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) which rules the Dravidian state  and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the centre. This series of incidents raises multiple questions, won’t the students of Tamil Nadu benefit by learning an additional third language? The third language as per the policy need not be Hindi, it could be any one of the 22 scheduled Languages as per the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India, why can’t the TN state government opt for Malayalam, Kannada or Telugu ? As per this policy, will the states in the Hindi heartland be willing to opt for Tamil or any other South Indian language as their third option?

The first ‘resistance’ against a third language (Hindi) in Tamil Nadu can be traced back to 1937 when Periyar E V Ramaswamy Naicker led a protest against the order of the then Chief Minister C Rajagopalachari who made Hindi compulsory in schools.  The three-language policy was first implemented in 1968 by Indira Gandhi’s government, making it mandatory for every school student to study at least three languages. In that formula, one language was English, second the regional language and third any modern Indian language. The then Tamil Nadu Government under Chief Minister C.N Annadurai rejected this and only approved a two-language formula,i.e.  Only Tamil and English were  allowed to be taught in the State Government-run schools. The idea behind ‘the three language formula’ was to strengthen national integration and to make a new language accessible to the students. Even though the intention for this policy was noble, it was not properly enforced. Many state governments in the northern part of India had opted for Sanskrit as the third language and some state governments even allowed French and German as a third option. Thus the very notion of cultural exchange did not happen as anticipated.

The Dravidian parties from the very beginning accused the three-language formula of aiming at the imposition of Hindi imposition and the destruction the ‘Tamil’ culture. The government schools in Tamil Nadu have refrained from making Hindi a compulsory subject until now but the CBSE and ICSE schools in other states follow the three-language formula with Hindi as one of the subjects. Therefore, this consistent stance of the state government is depriving the students of the schools it runs  access to a new language. In this era of globalization where people move from one place to another more frequently, learning a new language is an added benefit.

Undoubtedly, Tamil is one of the most ancient languages and has a history of rich literature. The argument of the Dravidian parties that Tamilians learning a new language (in this case Hindi) will diminish the importance of Tamil is false. Other south Indian states like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka are all following three language formulas and nobody has complained about their mother tongue facing challenges from Hindi. Even though, not the national language, Hindi is the only Indian language with a nationwide footprint. More than 43% of India’s population of 140 crore can converse or at least understand Hindi.  Learning this language enables each and every individual to connect with a majority of Indians, which is definitely beneficial to al. One should not forget that Hindi was seen as an important instrument during India’s freedom movement.  To promote Hindi in the South Indian states,  Mahatma Gandhi himself founded the Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha although he was a native Gujarati speaker.

If the opposition is about learning a new language, then why do the Dravadian politicians allow the students to learn English, French, or German? Why is it that their opposition is only to Hindi and Sanskrit?  Tamil Nadu’s Minister for Higher Education K Ponmudi stirred a controversy by stating that Hindi-speaking people sell pani puri in Tamil Nadu. Making a statement to suggest that people speaking Hindi are inferior to Tamilians violates the very spirit of our nationhood. Yet it is also a known fact that many politicians in Tamil Nadu, who believe in the Dravidian ideology, continue running private schools with Hindi as a subject. This has raised many questions from the general public about the real intention of the DMK in Hindi or any ‘third’ language.

India is a land of diverse cultures, traditions, and languages. Being familiar with one’s culture and language strengthens national integration. The three-language formula as per the NEP 2020 can be effectively utilised for integrating different. It also provides an opportunity for the students from the north Indian states to learn and know more about the South Indian languages like Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada which were all given classical language status by the Government of India. Not just the south Indian languages, all the 22 official languages will benefit from the three-language policy and this can also increase employment opportunities substantially in the teaching field.

It is apparent that the Tamil Nadu Government will not implement a three language policy and therefore will opt out of NEP 2020. This will eventually affect the financial support of the central government for the state’s educational sector and this has already become a hot political topic in Tamil Nadu. Learning a new language is an additional asset which could aid the youth to find more opportunities in this era of intense competition. If the Tamil Nadu Government has ideological reservations about Hindi, they are free to opt for any other language from the 8th schedule.

The three-language policy is the official policy of the Indian state for the past six decades and successive governments led by various parties have endorsed it. Even though it was first implemented in 1968, the policy was restated in 1986, revised in 1992, and again confirmed in the 2005 national curriculum framework. Barring Tamil Nadu, all the states have agreed to the three-language policy. The Tamil Nadu Government’s current stance on this issue is definitely not good news for students in the state.