Alleging that Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools are obtaining consent letters from parents of students enrolling in classes 5 and 8 in support of the 'detention policy' if they fail to score pass marks, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) students wing strongly condemned the National Education Policy (NEP).
As news surfaced on Friday, May 2, that CBSE schools are asking parents to sign consent letters during the admission process, the DMK students' wing demanded its withdrawal.
In a statement released in Chennai, the party's student wing secretary R Rajiv Gandhi charged that the parents were forced to sing the letters.
Highlighting the century-long struggle to ensure educational rights for all, he said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led union government attempts to jeopardise the educational futures of students through the NEP.
"Failing students in primary classes will only result in the injustice of pushing them back into their hereditary occupations. This seems to be the objective of the union government. For courses such as engineering, medicine, and the arts, entrance exams have been made compulsory. The CBSE syllabus has been prioritised for these exams. Now, they have made CBSE schools inaccessible," he accused.
He also stated that Chief Minister MK Stalin had anticipated this threat, which is why he opposed the NEP from the outset.
