TN to continue with two-language formula, says state official

Tamil Nadu will continue to follow only the two-language system, comprising Tamil and English, and there was no move to shift to the three-language formula, the School Education Commissioner said on Sunday.

Refuting reports in a section of media that there were “discreet” attempts to opt for the three-language system, an official release said, “Tamil Nadu has made its language policy clear on many occasions.”

“Tamil, which is the mother tongue, and the global-link language English have been in vogue (in the State) as per the two-language formula,” it said.

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According to a 2006 Act, learning Tamil is compulsory till Class X while students whose mother tongue was Telugu or Malayalam or Kannada or Urdu can learn their respective language also, it said.

‘Misleading reports’

“Therefore, people need not have any apprehension over the language subject policy which has been made amply clear and must not believe in reports that are contrary to facts and misleading,” it said.

The statement assumes significance in view of Union home minister Amit Shah’s recent statement that Hindi should replace English as the link language in the country.

Also read: Prominent South Indian leaders oppose Amit Shah’s Hindi remark

Both the Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu, the ruling DMK and its rival AIADMK, who have ruled the State since 1967 at different times, are opposed to the implementation of the three-language formula in the State, saying Tamil and English would suffice and there was no need for a third language, alluding to Hindi.

With agency inputs