Joining issue with Governor RN Ravi, Tamil Nadu Sports and Youth Welfare minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Thursday said only those who could not stomach the vibrancy of the State Board curriculum were opposed to it.

He was responding to Ravi’s charge, made at the centenary celebration of a Girls School in north Chennai on Sunday, that the state syllabus is not competitive and far behind. “It is not competitive. It is certainly far behind, far below. I can see that in our universities and colleges, because it is reflected in the academic standard and scholarship of our students,” the Governor had said, adding that students should look beyond the school syllabus and be exposed to the latest developments in science and technology.

Ravi is once again at the receiving end, with his debunking of the Tamil Nadu syllabus as ‘considerably inferior to that of the NCERT. It has drawn sharp rebuttals from the ruling DMK and a section of educationists. The latest to join the issue with the Raj Bhavan is the DMK scion Udhayanidhi.

“I don’t know whether the Governor knows fully about the state syllabus. The best education system is one which enables students to think independently and in that respect, the curriculum in Tamil Nadu is the best in the country. It is a system which facilitates rational questioning. Hence, criticising it amounts to insulting the teachers and the students,” he said speaking at the marriage of a party functionary at Maraimalai Nagar on the city outskirts.

“Top ISRO scientists Mayilsamy Annadurai and Veera Muthuvel (of the Chandrayaan Mission) have studied in the state syllabus. Reputed doctors across the world have had their education in Tamil Nadu government schools,” he said adding “Only those who are unable to digest this, are finding fault with the syllabus. The best system in the country was the one implemented by Kalaignar (late DMK patriarch and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi,” he said.

Earlier, School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi had dared the Governor to check the quality of education by engaging with those preparing for competitive examinations. He contended that the state syllabus is on a par with the central board curriculum. Educationist Prince Gajendra Babu charged that the Governor’s views were prejudiced and demeaned students of the state board.

Tamil Nadu follows a Uniform School Syllabus called ‘Samacheer Kalvi’, for all the four different boards – State Board, Matriculation, Anglo Indian and Oriental. Text books and examinations are common to all of them. This was an initiative of the Karunanidhi government in 2009 which was implemented in 2011.

However, while enrollment is high, proficiency in reading is very low among school students. A 2022 survey by the Foundational Learning Study of NCERT, has revealed that only 20 per cent kids in class III can read Tamil. Numeracy is also poor among students, it has been pointed out.