– Shivani Chaturvedi (Chennai)

Chief minister Vijay: higher education dissent

Since against all expectations and forecasts the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK, Tamil Victory Party) promoted two years ago by Tamil cinema star C. Joseph Vijay emerged as the single largest party in the state legislative assembly election of 2026 and was sworn-in as chief minister on May 7, there has been remarkable continuity of education policy.

Indicating surprising maturity and responsibility, the TVK government has broadly accepted the previous DMK government’s repudiation of the BJP-led NDA government’s National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and its replacement by a State Education Policy (SEP) 2025. It has endorsed DMK’s two-language formula in K-12 education; it opposes the teaching of Hindi and, like the previous DMK government, rejects establishment of the Centre’s PM-Shri Schools in TN because Hindi learning and adherence to NEP 2020 are compulsory in them; it wants abolition of NEET-UG and education, currently on the Concurrent list of the Constitution, returned to the State list, going further than DMK which demanded exemption of state students from having to write NEET-UG.

In higher education, the DMK government specifically objected to a switch from the conventional three to four-year undergraduate programmes with multiple entry and exit options. But the TVK government is preparing a Higher Education Policy that could re-introduce four-year undergraduate degree programmes in state universities and affiliated colleges.

At a July 6, 2026 review meeting of the state’s higher education department chaired by Chief Minister Joseph Vijay and attended by higher education minister P. Viswanathan and senior officials, the government discussed a new State Higher Education Policy. Minutes circulated subsequently to state universities said the policy would incorporate “global best practices such as four-year degree programmes”. Simply put, Tamil Nadu is now considering adopting a higher education academic structure that had earlier figured prominently among its objections to NEP 2020.

The TVK government discerns considerable merit in the NEP 2020 provision that undergrad education programmes should be of four years duration in state government colleges and universities, although it’s not clear at this stage whether the TVK government is in favour of the multiple exit and re-entry provision of NEP 2020.

NEP 2020, based on the recommendations of the 484-page report of the late Dr. K. Kasturirangan Committee Report, accepted the multiple exits proposal to provide for tertiary students who often have to drop out of undergrad education to earn a living. NEP 2020 enables them to exit with one-three year credentials to be deposited in a cloud-based Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) with the option to re-enter and complete their higher education. This liberal provision of NEP 2020 was strongly opposed by the DMK government on the ground that students from economically weaker and first-generation learner families would dropout prematurely in large numbers and never return to complete their degree programmes.

Nevertheless, there is growing support for the four-year degree programme and ABC. P. Duraisamy, former vice chancellor of the University of Madras, recommends that the four-year degree should be considered separately from the state’s wider opposition to NEP 2020. “Even if the state government is opposed to NEP 2020, in higher education it should introduce four-year undergrad degrees, as Central government universities — and colleges/universities in several states — have adopted this provision of NEP 2020. Adherence to the three-year undergrad degree programmes will disadvantage TN students in the employment marketplace beyond state boundaries,” he warns.

Duraisamy also highlights the changing postgraduate structure. Students completing a four-year undergraduate degree become eligible for one-year postgraduate programmes, whereas students completing conventional three-year bachelor’s degrees will have to earn their postgrad degrees in two-year study programmes. Without four-year undergraduate programmes, Tamil Nadu graduates would find it difficult to participate in newer postgraduate programmes being introduced by UGC (University Grants Commission), adds Duraiswamy.

In the circumstances, the new TVK government policy of retaining some provisions of NEP 2020 in Tamil Nadu’s SEP 2025 is attracting increasing support from the state’s academy. There is rising agreement that the new TVK government is on the right track in separating SEP 2025’s provisions for K-12 and higher education. In the latter, the interests of Tamil Nadu’s students will be best served through homogeneity with Central government institutions which have accepted, and are implementing this provision of NEP 2020.