Chennai: Even as the Tamil Nadu government fights what it calls the “imposition” of Hindi through the three-language formula, the number of student enrolments in Tamil-medium schools in the state has declined sharply, while those in English-medium government schools have surged.
According to data presented by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in the Rajya Sabha last week, the number of students enrolled in Tamil-medium schools in Tamil Nadu fell from 65.87 lakh in 2018-19 to 46.82 lakh in 2023-24. Meanwhile, English-medium enrolments in government and government-aided schools increased from 55.18 lakh in 2018-19 to 82 lakh in 2023-24.
Amid a heated war of words between Tamil Nadu and the Centre over the state’s current two-language policy, Pradhan said—arguing for the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020—that unlike the state government’s current policy allowing children to learn in English, the NEP recommends learning through the mother tongue until Class V.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) refuted Pradhan’s statement, saying that it could never be an excuse to learn Hindi. Party spokesperson T.K.S. Elangovan said the state government made Tamil a compulsory language until Class VIII.
“The medium of instruction is an option given to parents and children. But whatever medium they opt for, they will have to learn Tamil in their schools until Class VIII, be it government or private. The claim of the Union minister cannot be an excuse to implement the three-language formula and the NEP,” he told ThePrint.
However, experts point to a global trend of moving towards English as the medium of education for better employment opportunities.
Former Madras Institute of Development Studies professor C. Lakshmanan said that education is not just a qualification for most people in India, especially in the southern parts.
“Education is seen as a livelihood thing in south India. People choose English medium over Tamil medium for better employment opportunities and better salaries,” he told ThePrint. “People in south India have understood that learning an Indian language alone may not be sufficient to excel in the highly competitive world. Therefore, they might have switched over from Tamil-medium to English-medium.”
Officials in the school education department said that the trend of shifting from Tamil-medium to English-medium schools began during the previous All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government.
“It was the time when school headmistresses and headmasters were asked to move Tamil-medium school children to English-medium schools. That is what has led to this drastic change in the numbers in government schools,” said an official.
AIADMK spokesperson R. Babu Murugavel said that the then government took the step to provide English-medium education to government school children. “Those were the days when English-medium education was available only in private schools, and we did not want the children from the downtrodden community to be at a disadvantage by studying in Tamil medium in government schools.”
Also Read: In last full budget before polls, DMK gives pride of place to big-ticket infra, school education
Centre vs Tamil Nadu govt
The three-language formula envisaged under NEP 2020 recommends that students learn three languages, at least two of which must be native to India. The formula applies to government as well as private schools, and gives the freedom to choose the Indian languages. NEP 2020 also recommends the study of foreign languages at the secondary level.
Nearly all states have implemented the three-language formula up to Class 8, with some extending it to Class 10. Tamil Nadu remains a notable exception, opting for a two-language policy instead.
Ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power at the Centre, it has been batting for teaching students in their mother tongue.
Home Minister Amit Shah, who was in Thakkolam in Ranipet district for Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) Raising Day earlier this month, had appealed to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to offer medical and engineering education with the regional language as the medium of instruction. “I have been asking for this for the last two years, but to no avail,” he had said.
However, Tamil Nadu was among the first states to offer engineering courses in a regional language.
The DMK government, led by then-chief minister M. Karunanidhi, had introduced Tamil-medium engineering education in 2010. Today, 11 constituent colleges of Anna University continue to offer courses in Tamil, but enrolment is declining as students increasingly prefer English for technical education.
‘Trend not unique to Tamil Nadu’
Experts say social and economic factors drive students to choose English-medium education for better job prospects and higher salaries.
L. Ramamoorthy, Linguistics professor at Central University of Kerala, said that education is now based on consumerism and moving towards English-medium instruction is unavoidable. “It is not just the medium of instruction. The overall admission for language studies, humanities and social sciences has dropped drastically over the years. Now, everything is about making money, and people think learning in English will get them better opportunities.”
He added that the decline in regional language schooling is not unique to Tamil Nadu and is happening across the country. “You can take any state and look at the enrolments in the regional language-medium schools, and there would have been a sharp decline in the numbers. In some states, they are shutting regional language medium schools.”
According to reports, the number of Marathi-medium schools in Mumbai had declined sharply in Maharashtra. In 2014-15, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) operated about 368 Marathi-medium schools and the number fell to 262 in 2023-24.
Educationists working with parents, teachers and students in Tamil Nadu attributed the drop in enrolments in Tamil-medium schools to the lack of awareness about learning a language and learning in a language as a medium of education.
Chandrasekar, the Coimbatore zonal coordinator of the School Education Protection Movement (Palli Kalvi Pathukappu Iyakkam), said that many wrongly believe that learning in English-medium schools can get them better jobs and better salaries.
“We cannot blame the parents for sending their wards to English-medium schools. Because they are not aware that admitting their children in a Tamil medium school would enhance the understanding capacity of their children in their mother tongue, which may not be the case with English medium of instruction,” he said.
Educationist Prince Gajendra Babu echoed similar concerns, arguing that schools teaching in Tamil should focus on providing quality English-language education. “If learning English was the concern of the parents, the schools teaching in Tamil-medium should have a good English language teacher who teaches English as a language, and not just for academics. This should have been explained to the parents.”
Union education minister Pradhan also shared data showing that private CBSE schools in Tamil Nadu have been teaching Hindi as a third language. According to him, of the 1,460 CBSE schools in Tamil Nadu, 1,411 schools teach Tamil and English, while about 774 teach Hindi in their schools.
The minister said that the Tamil Nadu state government had given permission to these schools to do so, but DMK spokesperson T.K.S. Elangovan denied the claim.
“The state government only gives No Objection Certificate (NOC) for setting up CBSE schools in a particular locality. Apart from that, the state does not have any say over what they teach in the school. Even this NOC is now a matter of the past since that is also not required after the recent change in the norms for setting up CBSE schools,” Elangovan said.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
Also Read: Why DMK-led Tamil Nadu govt is at war with the Centre over NEP
