The Supreme Court has urged the Tamil Nadu government to reconsider its stance on teaching Hindi in schools, emphasizing that doing so would not lower education standards and advocating for additional language options. This directive comes after the Madras High Court ordered the state government to establish Navodaya schools in every district in 2017.
During a hearing on Thursday, the Supreme Court expressed concerns over the Tamil Nadu government's resistance to introducing Hindi in schools, particularly regarding the implementation of Union-run Navodaya schools in each district. Live Law reported that the court emphasized that people in Chennai should not alienate Delhi and vice versa. Justice UU Lalit, who headed the bench, said, 'you have to change your mindset, it can't be that Hindi will not be taught in the soil of Tamil Nadu.' The court further argued that having additional language options would not deter the quality of education but instead improve it. This statement was made during a hearing on the establishment of Navodaya schools.
In 2017, the Madras High Court directed the state government to set up Navodaya schools in every district, holding that doing so would not violate the Tamil Nadu Tamil Learning Act. The state government subsequently approached the Supreme Court, arguing that education falls within the state’s domain and that the Navodaya school model was incompatible with Tamil Nadu's two-language policy. In December, the Supreme Court directed the state government to identify the land required to establish the schools within six weeks. The state filed an application seeking to recall this order. On Thursday, the court refused to rescind the order and granted the state government three more months to comply. The matter will be heard next on December 14.
Source:
Scroll.in
