Stalin announces protest against Centre's education policy

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Monday announced state-wide protests on January 20 against what it called an attempt by the Centre to thrust education "inclined towards religion" and making "Sanskrit compulsory" through the proposed National Education Policy.

In a statement released on Monday, DMK working president M K Stalin said, "The Centre wants to introduce Sanskrit in schools.

The new education policy has a religious bias." Stalin said students were given admissions in engineering and medical colleges based on Class 12 marks. "Introduction of NEET and the new education policy will affect rural students," he said.

He claimed NEET would adversely affect poor and rural students' prospects of pursuing higher education.

In Tamil Nadu, students in professional courses, including medicine and engineering, are selected on the basis of marks secured in the Class 12 examination.

In a separate statement, Stalin thanked party members and leaders of all parties for having wished him on assuming charge as the DMK working president.