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DMK bid to safeguard its image as defender of Tamil

N Sathiya Moorthy in Madras

After the gods and temples, it's back to children and schools for the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

Quick on the heels of the row over Tamil archanas (prayers) in Hindu temples in the state, the Tamil Nadu government has decided to grant recognition only to schools teaching in Tamil.

The announcement, made by Chief Minister Muthuvel Karunanidhi earlier this week, has a proviso, however. The condition is applicable only to nursery and primary schools, which should teach subjects like history, geography and mathematics in Tamil from the next academic year.

Realising the ground realities, however, the chief minister also said the recognition fees for such schools would be halved. Their pupils will also be given their textbooks free.

Karunanidhi also used the occasion to caution parents that students from unrecognised schools will not get admission at higher levels in government schools.

As Minister for Tamil Culture M Tamizhkudimagan pointed out, there are as many as 20,000 unrecognised nursery and primary schools in the state, against 2,100 with government recognition.

There is a scramble for English-medium schools even in the rural areas of the state. For some, it has become a kind of status symbol. Others see it as a guarantor of jobs, especially overseas. Thus, parents, irrespective of socio-economic background, insist on their children getting an education in non-government, English-medium schools.

So with every passing year, a greater need is felt for such schools, particularly at the lower levels. It is this trend Karunanidhi and Tamizhkudimagan hinted at while referring to unrecognised schools.

Quick to spot an opportunity to make a fast buck, unscrupulous entrepreneurs in the garb of educators have been setting up nursery and primary schools at the village level, at times even at the street level.

While the government is not opposed to the entry of the private sector in education, it has strict guidelines on licensing such schools. Instruction in Tamil is one such condition, but as some private entrepreneurs point out, they are in the business only because people want their children to study in English.

According to these educators, the government's insistence on teaching in Tamil has led to a cross-flow of students from recognised schools to unrecognised ones.

But many of the unrecognised schools are run by half-baked scholars whose knowledge of English is suspect. But in a rural setting, where the average person has little or no knowledge of English, they make merry, collecting huge donations for admission, and letting untrained or half-trained teachers disburse their 'knowledge'.

The 'private schools' have their own reasons for collecting donations. Apart from making good business sense, they need the money, particularly in the absence of government aid. Parental expectations are also high, which means the schools have to invest more in infrastructure.

The government now hopes to kill two birds with one shot. Karunanidhi has reminded both parents and school managements of an earlier government order banning unrecognised schools. This will end large-scale complaints of 'donations' at the nursery-level. It will also mean that schools, to qualify for recognition, will have to switch over to the Tamil medium.

Politically, the announcement comes soon after the Saraswati Vandana controversy at the Centre last month, and the rival Pattali Makkal Katchi's Delhi meeting this week calling for official-language status for Tamil and other constitutionally recognised tongues.

Clearly, the Bharatiya Janata Party is whipping up 'pan-Hindu sentiments' through controversies like the Saraswati Vandana, which will have a 'pan-Tamil backlash' at some point. As and when that happens, the DMK does not want the political benefits going to some other Tamil party, overriding its traditional claim.

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