The state, represented by senior advocate P Wilson and advocate Sabarish Subramanium, said in an affidavit that a trilingual navodaya scheme would necessarily require a derogation from the mandate of the Tamil Nadu Tamil Learning Act, 2006. | Photo credit: PTI
The Tamil Nadu government has said in the Supreme Court that the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya program is “fundamentally incompatible” with the state’s bilingual policy.
The state, represented by senior advocate P. Wilson and advocate Sabarish Subramanium, said in an affidavit that the trilingual navodaya formula scheme would necessarily require a derogation from the mandate of the Tamil Nadu Tamil Learning Act, 2006.
“Such a deviation would be impermissible by law and contrary to the established legislative framework of the state,” the affidavit states.
The trilingual formula is considered the basic pedagogical and administrative framework of the scheme. It required compulsory instruction in Hindi, English and mother/regional language.
The Tamil Nadu government insists that the introduction of the system was a “back door” to making Hindi compulsory.
The state said that the stated objectives of navodaya were already well established in Tamil Nadu, which included providing quality residential education to deserving students from rural and economically weaker sections.
He said the state has set up 38 model residential schools in each district with a capital cost of ₹50 crore each. The operation and maintenance of all 38 residential schools was around ₹210 crore, which was entirely borne by the state government.
The state said it met representatives of the Center in January 2026 to urge the Union government to provide financial support to schools to avoid duplication of institutions, preserve state legislative autonomy and achieve national education goals through existing infrastructure.
The affidavit highlighted the non-release of Central’s sanctioned share under the Samagra Shiksha Scheme.
It said the total central share sanctioned under Samagra Shiksha is ₹ 13,998.82 crore for the financial years 2024-25 and 2025-26.
“Out of this sanctioned amount, only ₹450.60 crore has been released by the Government of India under education entitlements. This results in a backlog of ₹3,548.22 crore… These funds are required for teachers’ salaries, maintenance of infrastructure, student welfare programs and other necessary financial programs related to the release.
Published – 12 March 2026 06:57 IST
