Aditanar’s contribution to Tamil in new Class 11 syllabus

“The contribution of the founder of Daily Thanthi to the Tamil language, and his efforts to make news accessible to the common people, will now be a part of the new syllabus for Class 11,” said Sengottaiyan. The Minister pointed out that through Daily Thanthi newspaper, Aditanar made Tamil simple and accessible to everybody, enabling those from remote villages to get news much faster, understand it easily, besides encouraging and improving their reading skills.

A senior school education department official said, “The lives and journeys of leaders from Tamil Nadu will be part of the new syllabus and Si Pa Aditanar is certainly one of the most significant Tamil leaders. He has played a pivotal role in making Tamil language easily read by all.” 

Anandakrishnan, who heads the new TN Curriculum Framework Committee, had earlier said they would expose students to contemporary Tamil literature. “Lives of great leaders will also be taught to students,” he said. 

Si Pa Aditanar, a prominent lawyer and politician, launched Daily Thanthi on November 1, 1942. The newspaper rapidly grew to become the largest circulated daily in Tamil Nadu, and the fifth largest read newspaper in the country. He was also the founder of the Naam Tamilar party, served as the member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly for four terms and was the Speaker of the Assembly during 1967–68. He was also Minister for Cooperation in M Karunanidhi’s cabinets of 1969 and 1971. In his memory, two annual Tamil literary awards have been set up. Daily Thanthi recently celebrated its 75th anniversary. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who graced the function, lauded the efforts of Si Pa Aditanar and his contribution to society.