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Chennai: At loggerheads with the Central government for several months over languages to be adopted in the education policy, Tamil Nadu on Friday went ahead and announced its own policy.

Countering the Centre’s National Education Policy (NEP), Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin unveiled the State Education Policy (SEP) at the Anna Centenary Library Auditorium in Kotturpuram, positioning it as a clear alternative.

A 14-member committee headed by retired Justice Murugesan, constituted in 2022 to draft the state policy, submitted its recommendations to the chief minister in July 2024.

The document has now been formally released.

The SEP will retain Tamil Nadu’s two-language policy, thereby rejecting NEP’s three-language formula. The state policy also recommends undergraduate admissions for Arts and Science courses based on consolidated marks from Classes XI and XII instead of a common entrance exam, NDTV reported citing sources.

SEP has also rejected NEP’s proposal for public exams in Classes III, V and VIII, calling it regressive, anti-social justice, and a potential cause for higher dropout rates and commercialisation of education.

The committee which drafted the state policy has proposed a big push for Science, Artificial Intelligence, and English, and also recommended bringing education back under the state list from the concurrent list.

“Till 10th standard, across all boards, including CBSE, ICSE, and the State board, students will study Tamil. We are dead against the three-language policy in NEP,” Tamil Nadu Education Minister Anbil Mahesh said.

Senior BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan slammed Tamil Nadu’s proposed education policy, calling it the ‘State Egoistic Policy.’

Claiming it to be a “cut and copy” of the NEP, Soundararajan went on to say it was “divisive” and accused the state government of wanting to “shrink education.”