Tamil Nadu to move SC against Centre withholding education funds of over Rs 2,000 crore: MK Stalin

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Saturday said that the state will move the Supreme Court against the Centre for withholding funds of Rs 2,152 crore under the Samagra Shiksha scheme due to its refusal to implement the three-language policy, The Hindu reported.

“The funds that should have reached students and teachers are being withheld by the Union government due to petty politics,” Stalin said at an event in Chennai.

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader referred to a statement by Union Home Minister Amit Shah from earlier this month that the government will promote Sanskrit through the National Education Policy, The New Indian Express reported.

“His [Shah’s] remarks confirm what we have long feared, that the policy is a deliberate attempt to undermine Tamil and other languages,” Stalin said.

The Tamil Nadu chief minister asserted that the only way to stop this trend was “by bringing education back to the State List”.

In February too, Stalin had accused the Centre of withholding funds as a tactic to coerce states to adopt centrally-mandated programmes.

He had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention in getting dues under the scheme without linking them to the implementation of the 2020 National Education Policy.

The Samagra Shiksha scheme, implemented in 2018, is the scheme through which the Union government provides support for elementary...

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