As the Centre tweaked its draft education policy in light of the backlash it faced for 'Hindi imposition', award-winning musician AR Rahman took to Twitter on Monday, 3 June, calling the revision in the policy a "beautiful decision".
"Beautiful decision. Hindi not compulsory in Tamil Nadu. The draft policy has been revised," Rahman said in a tweet in Tamil.
Actor Siddharth also posted a message against homogenisation on the social media platform, saying:
After outrage over the draft policy favouring teaching Hindi in non-Hindi speaking states, the Centre revised its policy to remove references to specific languages including Hindi, but still sought to propound the three-language formula.
The revised draft reportedly now says:
“In keeping with the principle of flexibility, students who wish to change one or more of the three languages they are studying may do so in Grade 6 or Grade 7, so long as they are able to still demonstrate proficiency in three languages (one language at the literature level) in their modular Board Examinations some time during secondary school (see P4.9.5).”
Meanwhile, the first draft had said: “In keeping with the principle of flexibility, students who wish to change one of the three languages they are studying may do so in Grade 6, so long as the study of three languages by students in the Hindi-speaking states would continue to include Hindi and English and one of the modern Indian languages from other parts of India, while the study of languages by students in the non-Hindi-speaking states would include the regional language, Hindi and English.”
The recommendations relating to the teaching of Hindi in the first draft had drawn sharp reactions especially in Tamil Nadu, from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and actor Kamal Haasan's Makkal Needhi Maiam.
Following this, the Centre had attempted some damage control, with newly-appointed External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday saying that the state governments will be consulted before a final decision is taken on the issue.
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