Amid controversy, Jaishankar, Sitharaman assure no language will be imposed

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 Sunday said state governments will be consulted before a final decision is taken 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 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.

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 favoured teaching of Hindi in non-Hindi speaking states.

The recommendations relating 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, Saturday said a committee had prepared a draft report on the education policy and that no decision has been taken on implementing it.

This was followed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's tweet which, too, had an assuring tone. It said that the draft report of the Education Committee would be implemented only after public hearings. She also said that the Union government would support the development of Tamil.

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu appealed people not to draw hasty conclusions about the Draft New Education Policy. He urged them to first study, analyse and debate about it.

He pointed out that the core issues of education were very important and deserved attention of all stakeholders.

He encouraged the reduction of weight of school bags, promotion of sports, inculcation of morals, scientific and rationale temperament to be a part of students' curriculum.