Tamil Nadu's schools largely lack three-language offerings

In India, about 61.6% of schools offer students the opportunity to study three languages, according to recent data from the education ministry. This information was shared by the Union minister of state for education, Jayant Chaudhary, during a session in Lok Sabha. However, in Tamil Nadu, only 3.2% of schools provide instruction in three languages. The report shows that 37% of schools in Tamil Nadu offer just one language, while 59% teach two languages. Across the state, there are a total of 58,722 schools with approximately 12.9 million students enrolled. Gujarat leads the country with 97.6% of its schools offering three languages, followed closely by Chandigarh and Dadra & Nagar Haveli. In contrast, Arunachal Pradesh has the lowest number at only 0.3% of schools providing three languages. This data comes against the backdrop of a debate in Tamil Nadu regarding the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The NEP suggests that each student should learn at least three languages, including two native Indian languages. However, Tamil Nadu has mostly followed a two-language system, comprising Tamil and English, and regional parties have expressed concerns about the inclusion of Hindi or Sanskrit in the curriculum. In addition to the language statistics, Chaudhary addressed queries about the teaching staff in Kendriya Vidyalayas in Tamil Nadu. Currently, 24 teachers are employed on a part-time basis to teach Tamil in 45 of these schools. There are also 86 Hindi and 65 Sanskrit teachers working across the state.