Draft education policy row: No language will be imposed without consulting any of the states, says EAM S Jaishankar

New Delhi: Following outrage in Tamil Nadu over a draft education policy favouring teaching Hindi in non-Hindi-speaking states, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday said state governments will be consulted before a final decision is made on the issue. Jaishankar’s response came after a Twitter user posted a query to him on the issue. “The National Education Policy as submitted to the Minister of HRD is only a draft report. Feedback shall be obtained from the general public. State governments will be consulted. Only after this, the draft report will be finalised. GoI respects all languages. No language will be imposed,” Jaishankar tweeted, first in Tamil and then in English.

The National Education Policy as submitted to the Minister HRD is only a draft report. Feedback shall be obtained from general public. State Governments will be consulted. Only after this the draft report will be finalised. GoI respects all languages. No language will be imposed

— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) June 2, 2019

Following the footsteps of his predecessor Sushma Swaraj, Jaishankar on Sunday responded on Twitter to various queries and calls for assistance by several Indians abroad. The draft national education policy recommends a range of reform measures and favours teaching of Hindi in non-Hindi speaking states. The recommendations related to teaching of Hindi drew sharp reactions from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and actor Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam. Former HRD minister Prakash Javadekar, who is now Minister for Information and Broadcasting in the second Modi government, on Saturday said a committee had prepared a draft report on the education policy, and that no decision had been made on implementing it.