Amid the ongoing war of words between Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu over the NEP and its attendant three-language policy, DMK Parliamentary Party Leader Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, MP, has asked the former to ‘stop twisting facts’ with regard to the 2024 letter from the Tamil Nadu government on PM SHRI schools.

She was responding to Pradhan sharing the letter, which he claimed as having given consent for the PM SHRI Schools and accusing Chief Minister MK Stalin and his party MPs of “stacking lies as high as they want, but the truth doesn’t bother knocking down when it comes crashing down”.

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In a stern rebuttal, Kanimozhi, also the DMK’s deputy general secretary and the party’s woman face, denied that the letter written last year had agreed to implement the NEP or the three-language policy.

“This letter clearly states that Tamil Nadu will accept PM SHRI schools only based on our State Government-led committee’s recommendations and not on your Union Government’s recommendation. Nowhere have we mentioned accepting the three-language policy or NEP in its entirety. Whatever is acceptable to Tamil Nadu, we will accept – nothing more, nothing less. Stop twisting facts,” she wrote in a post on ‘X’.

Pradhan, releasing the letter written by the then Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena, said in a post on his ‘X’ handle “I stand by my statement made in the Parliament and am sharing the consent letter from Tamil Nadu School Education Departmentdated 15th March 2024.”

Further, taunting the DMK government, he said “Raking the language issue as a diversionary tactic and denying facts as per convenience will not shield their governance and welfare deficit. Why this sudden change of stance on NEP? Definitely for political brownies and reviving the DMK’s political fortunes.”

Joining issue with Pradhan, Tamil Nadu School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi blamed the Union Minister for misleading the state’s stand on the NEP and completely ignoring the bigger picture. “Don’t fix what is broken: Tamil Nadu’s Education System Delivers, NEP Disrupts. This is not just about Tamil language; it is about an education system that has been tried, tested and proven successful over decades. Tamil Nadu model works: Our State Board education system has consistently produced some of the best results in higher education and employment,” he wrote in a lengthy post on ‘X’.

Providing statistics, he said 1.09 crore students pursue their studies in 58,779 state board schools and only 15.2 lakh students are there in 1,635 CBSE schools. “If there is a real demand for learning a third language, as is being claimed by some, why our people continue to choose State Board schools?” he asked, adding, “Let’s understand people’s choices.”

To drive home the point that the state’s two-language policy is the best, he said, “Tamil our pride and English as a world guide is our path to progress and equity. Hence, Tamil Nadu does not need a forced third language when our students are already excelling with strong bilingual foundation.”