Kamal urges state to arrest hike in dropout rates 

In a tweet, Kamal noted that the state has witnessed 100 per cent increase in school dropouts in Classes 9 and 10 in the last 3 years. “This is not just distressing, but a dangerous regression which has to be stopped,” he wrote, adding that the state government has remained distracted with “useless or redundant schemes.”

The actor-turned-politician has called upon the citizens to demand a better education for the next generation at least. “They should re-examine archaic policies and re-configure the way to attain skill, wisdom, knowledge and excellence,” he tweeted.

In the Lok Sabha, Union Minister of Human Resources Development Ramesh Pokhriyal, in reply to a question, said that the drop out of the Class 9 and Class 10 in Tamil Nadu has increased from 8.10 per cent in 2015-16 to 16.2 per cent in 2017-18.

Meanwhile, MNM vice president Dr R Mahendran, in a statement, urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to pressurise Sri Lanka to allay the fears of the Island Tamils during his meeting with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on Saturday in New Delhi.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Rajapaksa who is visiting India on a four-day tour would be meeting Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind during his official visit, he said, adding that Lankan Tamils were facing lot of hardship after Gotabaya Rajapaksa become the President and subsequently appointed Mahinda as PM. “Now the Lankan government has stopped playing Tamil version of the national anthem during its Independence Day celebrations. Besides, the army has been deployed in large numbers in Tamil areas even after the end of the war. Tamil Nadu fishermen were continued to be shot at and arrested by the Lankan Navy while fishing,” he said. He urged Modi to raise the issue of Lankan Tamil’s rights and security during his meeting with Mahinda Rajapaksa.