Karunanidhi takes up cause of Tamil again

Chennai, Jun 27 (UNI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today urged his Maharashtra counterpart Vilasrao Deshmukh to look into the issue of 15,000 Tamil students not being allowed to take their class eight exams in their native language.

In a letter to Mr Deshmukh, a copy of which was released here, he said the decision appeared discriminatory as the Gujarathi and Kannada students were allowed to write their exams in their respective mother tongue.

''Though the decision was taken due to certain administrative reasons, it will put the students to lot of stress and difficulty if they are suddenly asked to take their examinations in English after being taught in Tamil for seven years,'' he added.

Observing that imparting free primary education in their mother tongue was a noble effort, Mr Karunanidhi requested him to continue the same.

''In case the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai needed any assistance in the form of supply of text books and notes in Tamil language or availability of Tamil teachers, the Tamil Nadu Government was willing to extend its full support in any form required to continue the medium of instruction as Tamil to Tamil students upto class eight,'' he added.

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