TN notifies learning rules

COIMBATORE: Six years after the Tamil Nadu Learning Act was passed, the State government has notified the Tamil Nadu Learning Rules 2012 to ensure effective compliance in institutions.The TN Learning Act passed in 2006 mandates that Tamil should be taught as a subject in Classes I to X in all schools in a phased manner. The Act was upheld by the Supreme Court. However, for the past six years the government has failed to frame the rules for its effective implementation.The government has now notified the rules and appointed competent authorities who will be responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Tamil Nadu Learning Act.“The competent authority will have the powers to visit any school under his/her jurisdiction to ensure that Tamil is taught as a compulsory subject in all schools, including privately run institutions in the State, from Classes I to X,” a School Education Department official told Express on Thursday. After conducting an inquiry into any violation by a school, the competent authority will be required to submit a report to the government within 30 days.Compulsory learning of Tamil was first introduced for students of Class I in the academic year 2006-07 and for Classes I and II in 2007-08 and extended to other classes year by year since then.Under the Act, a student whose mother tongue is not Tamil or English is allowed to study his mother tongue as an optional subject in schools.In the TN Learning Rules, which came into effect on April 20, the government has said that schools may conduct examinations for students in their optional subject but the marks obtained in the subject shall not be a determining factor for promotion or detaintion of a student.