PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss on Sunday urged the Union government to release ₹2,401 crore that belongs to Tamil Nadu under the Samagra Shiksha scheme and criticised Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan’s statement that funds will not be released unless the State government accepts the National Education Policy in its entirety, including the three-language formula.
In a statement, Dr. Anbumani said that the State government has as much powers as Union government to implement an education policy as education is in the concurrent list. “In the past, several States have implemented a policy suited for them. Even now, the Tamil Nadu government has not implemented its policy yet. This is Tamil Nadu government’s right. The Centre must respect it,” he said.
“It is the duty of the Centre to disburse the funds under the scheme. The funds are not an incentive to implement NEP or three-language formula. The centre should not confuse NEP and the funds that belong to Tamil Nadu. Several schemes related to protection of girl children are not being implemented due to denial of funds,” he said.
