HC poses question to HRD ministry on Tamil in Navodaya schools

The Madras High court today asked the Union human resource development (HRD) ministry if it was possible to introduce Tamil as a compulsory subject till class 10 in the Navodaya schools in Tamil Nadu and file its reply before August 29.
A division bench of the high court's Madurai bench, comprising justices K K Sasidharan and G R Swaminathan, was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by one Jeyakumar Thomas, seeking a direction to the Centre to set up Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) schools in the state.
It posed the question after S M Anandhamurugan, the petitioner's counsel, submitted that the Centre claimed that it was striving to develop Tamil language, but was "indirectly preventing it".

The counsel for the state government said it was a state policy that a two-language formula should be followed -- "Tamil and English or an optional language," and that Tamil would not be taught in the JNV schools.
JNV schools, affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), are residential institutions imparting education from class 6 to class 12.
There is a 75-per cent reservation for the children from rural areas in these schools, which charge Rs 200 as fee. The HRD ministry has set up 600 such schools in the country, but not even one in Tamil Nadu.

The Centre submitted that it was willing to set up JNV schools in Tamil Nadu, but the state government had not considered it.