The Tamil Nadu Catholic Educational Association (TNCEA) has stressed that the proposed State Education Policy for Tamil Nadu (SEP-TN) should concentrate on strengthening and expanding the network of government as well as government-aided private educational institutions and discourage commercialisation of education by self-financing institutions.
The suggestion has been made to the SEP-TN formulation committee headed by retired Delhi High Court Chief Justice D. Murugesan. A delegation led by Most Rev. George Antonysamy, president of Tamil Nadu Bishops’ Council and TNCEA, handed over the suggestions to the former judge, according to Fr. A. Xavier Arulraj, a designated senior counsel in the High Court.
The primary source of funding for education should be from the public exchequer. Role of non-State actors should only be in addition to and supplemental to the contribution of the State and not as a substitute for the same. “The more that education is privatised, lesser the control of the government and farther it will be from the reach of the poor,” the TNCEA warned.
