Chennai: The recommendation by an expert panel led by Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan, a former chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to introduce Hindi as a mandatory third language in schools has been met with strong opposition on social media. An online campaign against the same gained some serious traction and Twitter was swarmed with messages in protest of the draft education policy that was recently submitted to the new Tamil Nadu government.
The Draft National Education Policy 2019 stated that the “three language formula” being followed in some schools since 1968 should be continued and that “children will now be immersed in three languages early on, starting from the Foundational Stage onwards.”
This recommendation has been viewed by many as an effort to impose the Hindi language on South Indians. The hashtags #StopHindiImposition and #TNAgainstHindiImposition topped the trending list on Twitter as a result of the online campaign. There were about one lakh tweets under these two hashtags by 5 PM on Sunday.
Responding to the growing backlash, Union education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said the recommendations were merely a report and not yet a policy. “Public feedback will be sought,” he clarified, saying that it is a misunderstanding that the recommendations have become a policy. He added that no language would be imposed on any state.
While various politicians spoke out against the move, actor-turned-politician Kamal Hassan told ANI, ” I have acted in many Hindi films, in my opinion Hindi language should not be imposed on anyone.”
Many on Twitter spoke out against the recommendations, some saying that this could “further accentuate the huge difference” between the North and the South and others questioned if the Northerners were learning Tamil.
Is there a sign board in Tamil in north India? Then why we have Hindi everywhere? Don’t give preference to Hindi. Treat all languages equally. #StopHindiImposition pic.twitter.com/bB1MqPn2Uy
— Contractor Pandi (@M19Sen) June 2, 2019
The Hindi language has seen a lot of opposition in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Several attempts have been made in the past but the Tamilians are head-strong about retaining a two-language (English and Tamil) education system.
