The government had constituted a seven-member, high-level committee to study the policy proposed by the Centre and offer suggestions. A senior official from the Higher Education Department told DT Next that the committee members met on Tuesday and decided to organise an interactive meeting with the stakeholders on Thursday.

Academicians representing State-run universities, educationists and students were invited for the meetings. “To give opportunity for more people to get involved, the participants were divided into three groups, each with 20 members,” the official said. During the meeting, PB Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary, State Platform for Common School System–Tamil Nadu (SPCSS-TN), said draft NEP 2020 failed to place all languages in India on an equal plane. The creation of Special Education Zones (SEZ) as recommended by the policy would isolate local communities, he added. Opposing the suggestion to have all India aptitude test and subject-wise test to be conducted by the National Testing Agency, he said: “Like NEET score for medical admission, NTA score will become mandatory for admission to any course in any college, which will discourage students from pursuing higher education.” Noting that there were already more than 600 universities across the country, Anna University former Vice-Chancellor E Balagurusamy said in his suggestion that allowing foreign universities to operate here instead of improving the existing institutions was not a good move.

“More funds should be allocated not only for the improvement of the institutions but also appointing qualified faculties, which was not mooted in the draft NEP,” he said. The official from Higher Education Department said all suggestions and feedback would be sent to the State government to prevail upon the Centre to make changes or amendments according to the State’s requirements.