Poor students denied chance to learn Hindi: Zoho's Sridhar Vembu on Hindi imposition in Tamil Nadu
Zoho Corp founder Sridhar Vembu has shared his two cents on the Hindi language debate, which is ongoing in Tamil Nadu. He pointed out that access to Hindi education is based on affordability rather than preference.
"CBSE schools are growing fast even in rural Tamil Nadu and they all teach Hindi. Parents who can afford the fees prefer to send their kids to CBSE schools. Only the children of poor parents who cannot afford the fees go to government or aided schools and are denied the opportunity to learn Hindi. We hire a lot of those students. These are the plain facts," Vembu said in a post on X.
These remarks were a response to S Gurumurthy, who highlighted the disparity in language education, noting that over 60 lakh students in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools across Tamil Nadu study Hindi, while 83 lakh students in government and aided schools do not.
S Gurumurthy wrote: "Today 60 lac students who are in CBSE schools which rising by the day all study Hindi. Over 5 lac students appear in Dhakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar sabha exams. 83 lac students in govt and aided schools don't study Hindi. 47% TN students read Hindi."
This is not the first time Vembu has spoken about the importance of Hindi learning. Earlier, Vembu had stated how the lack of Hindi proficiency among Tamil Nadu’s rural engineers posed a challenge for businesses like Zoho.
"As Zoho grows rapidly in India, we have rural engineers in Tamil Nadu working closely with customers in Mumbai and Delhi. So much of our business is driven from these cities and from Gujarat. Rural jobs in Tamil Nadu depend on us serving those customers well. Not knowing Hindi is often a serious handicap for us in Tamil Nadu," he said.
"It is smart for us to learn Hindi," he had said, urging people to “ignore the politics” and treat language acquisition as a practical skill for economic growth.
Language controversy
Vembu’s remarks come amid a growing language controversy in Tamil Nadu, where the ruling DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) government has accused the Centre of imposing Hindi through policies like the National Education Policy (NEP 2020). The debate escalated after pro-Tamil activists blackened Hindi portions on railway station signboards in Chennai, stated Business Today.
DMK workers also defaced Hindi signage at Pollachi Junction and Palayankottai railway station, leading to the arrest of six-party cadres under the Railways Act.
