Don't Choke Education Budget to Enforce NEP

School education has been the subject of many disputes in India, particularly regarding what and how to teach.

- Vishal Vasanthakumar Doctoral student, University of Cambridge

One recent dispute involves Chief Minister M K Stalin's strong condemnation of the Union government for reallocating funds intended for Tamil Nadu under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) scheme to other, BJP-ruled states. This is not an isolated incident. More and more states ruled by opposition parties have accused the Centre of discrimination in distributing discretionary transfers.

The funds due for Tamil Nadu under the SSA were not released on the pretext that the state government had not signed a memorandum for implementing the PM-Shri schools, which requires implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) in Tamil Nadu—which this state and many others have vehemently opposed.

Freezing funds that constitute 7–8 percent of the state school education budget to impose a centralizing agenda of the Union Government, which directly impacts lakhs of students, isn't just a blot on federalistic ethos, but is also a travesty of Indian democracy. Denying a state funds recommended by the constitutionally mandated 15th Finance Commission—unless it complies with the Centre's arbitrary and legally non-binding policies—is nothing short of authoritarian coercion.

The Tamil Nadu government has been implementing a number of commendable aspects of the NEP through schemes such as Ennum Ezhuthum (for foundational literacy and numeracy), Pudhumai Penn (guidance for girl students to get into higher education), and the CM Breakfast scheme, many of which pre-date the NEP's rollout.