CHENNAI: Former Chief Minister and expelled AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam on Sunday denounced the DMK government for its failure to supply free Tamil textbooks to the children of non-resident Tamils (NRTs) living in other parts of the country and abroad.
The practice of supplying Tamil textbooks on behalf of the Tamil Nadu government to the wards of NRTs has been in place for several years.
These books are distributed to students studying in Tamil medium institutions run by Tamil associations, to promote the Tamil language. However, the government has failed to supply free textbooks to NRT children for the current academic year.
Officials have informed that only 10 copies of Tamil textbooks can be dispatched free of cost to each association, Panneerselvam said in a statement.
Officials of the Tamil Nadu Textbook and Educational Services Corporation (TNTESC) reportedly told the associations that they have been dispatching Tamil textbooks up to a limit of Rs 50 lakh.
However, rising raw material costs and increased wages have prevented them from supplying textbooks to NRT associations, he further stated.
Panneerselvam took aim at Chief Minister MK Stalin for making grand claims about achieving double-digit economic growth for the financial year 2025-2026, while his government struggled to provide Tamil textbooks worth just Rs 50 lakh to NRT students across India and abroad.
This, he said, exposes the government’s incompetence and denies NRT children the opportunity to learn their mother tongue.
He added that the current situation would even lead to the closure of institutions offering Tamil medium education outside Tamil Nadu, he said and condemned the undesirable development.
“Tamil associations are not in a position to spend lakhs of rupees on supplying textbooks to students. Therefore, the TNTESC must bear the expenses and continue the long-standing practice of providing free Tamil textbooks to NRT children, to promote the language,” he said and called for an immediate intervention of the CM to resolve the issue and ensure the free supply of Tamil textbooks to NRT children.