The charge was followed by a barb from the Union minister, who accused the DMK chief of sowing discord among the states over the NEP.
Pradhan responded to these allegations on X, saying that while healthy competition among states is valuable in a democratic setup, using it to “pit states against each other” contradicts the principles of the Constitution and the concept of national unity.
“NEP 2020 was formulated through a wide range of consultations and embodies the collective wisdom of the people of India,” Pradhan wrote on X.
Pradhan questioned Stalin’s”principled” opposition to the NEP, asking if his concerns were tied to matters like education in Tamil, exams held in Indian languages, or the creation of educational material in those languages
“Are you against education in mother tongues, including Tamil? Do you oppose conducting exams in Indian languages such as Tamil? Are you against developing textbooks and content in these languages? Do you reject the NEP’s holistic, multi-disciplinary, equitable, futuristic, and inclusive framework?” Pradhan asked.
On Monday, DMK and chief minister Stalin, who have opposed the National Education Policy (NEP) since its introduction, shared a report on X criticising the Centre for cutting Samagra Shiksha funds to states that resisted the policy. Stalin condemned this action, stating that penalising well-performing states for not adopting the NEP, while rewarding others, weakens efforts to ensure quality education and fairness.
“Denying funds to the best-performing states for refusing to bow to the #NEP, while generously rewarding those who are not delivering on the objectives—is this how the Union BJP Government plans to promote quality education and equity? I leave it to the wisdom of our nation and our people to decide! ” the chief minister wrote on X.