Centre’s move to scrap ‘no detention’ policy for Classes 5 to 8 aims to improve quality of education: Annamalai

BJP TN president Annamalai discusses education quality, PM-SHRI initiative, election rules, and caste census in Tamil Nadu.

Bharatiya Janata Party Tamil Nadu president K. Annamalai on Tuesday said the Centre’s move to do away with the ‘no detention’ policy for Classes 5 and 8 was aimed at improving the quality of education and learning outcome among students.

Speaking to mediapersons here, he said though the Gross Enrolment Ratio had increased in Tamil Nadu, the quality of education measured through learning outcomes among school students in the State had been deteriorating according to the Annual Status of Education Report. “Other south Indian States like Telangana and Kerala are performing better than Tamil Nadu,” he claimed.

He said the Prime Minister’s Schools for Rising India (PM-SHRI) was introduced to improve the learning outcomes of students. “It was not a separate initiative but an integral part of the New Education Policy. Instead of politicising the initiative, the Tamil Nadu government should take steps to adopt the PM SHRI scheme,” he said.

Mr. Annamalai defended the move by the Union Law Ministry which recently amended Rule 93(2)(a) of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, to restrict the type of “papers” or documents open to public inspection. “Considering the threat to the voters and booth-level election officers in sensitive areas, restricting public access to CCTV footage from polling booths was much required,” he said.

He said Chief Minister M.K. Stalin cannot blame on the Centre for not having conducted caste census in Tamil Nadu. “After coming to power, had the DMK government extended the tenure of the committee led by retired High Court judge A. Kulasekaran to collect caste-wise data in the State, we would have, by now, an empirical data to provide proportional representation.”

The BJP leader said instead of reciting the name of Ambedkar 1,000 times, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi leader Thol. Thirumavalavan should press the State government 1,000 times to follow the principles of Ambedkar.