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Tamil Nadu’s School Education Minister Rajmohan on Friday, September 18, said that the government would remain firm on its two-language policy and would not provide land for establishing Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) that follow the CBSE syllabus.
Minister Rajmohan was responding to a question at a press conference at the Secretariat regarding the Supreme Court’s direction a day earlier giving the state three months to comply with its December 15, 2025 order to identify land in each district for establishing Navodaya schools.
The Supreme Court on September 17 directed the Tamil Nadu government to comply with its earlier order while urging the state and Union governments to resolve their differences through dialogue. A bench comprising Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Augustine George Masih was hearing Tamil Nadu’s plea challenging a 2017 Madras High Court direction to establish Navodaya schools in every district.
During the hearing, the Supreme Court said Tamil Nadu had to change its “mindset” that Hindi cannot be taught in the state, cautioning that “individual States cannot act like individual countries”.
The court granted Tamil Nadu three months to identify suitable land for the schools and said the direction would be subject to its final orders. In the meantime, representatives of the state and Union governments were asked to hold discussions on the policy of establishing Navodaya schools in Tamil Nadu. The matter has been posted for December 14.
Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta, appearing for the state, submitted that the newly formed TVK government was seeking recall of the December 2025 order, which was passed when the DMK was in power.
Justice Nagarathna emphasised the need for cooperative federalism and said the establishment of Navodaya schools would provide additional educational opportunities without undermining Tamil Nadu’s existing education system.
“People in Chennai should not alienate Delhi and vice versa,” she remarked.
The bench also observed that the state’s educational standards would not be lowered by the establishment of additional schools and suggested that Tamil Nadu could consider the Union scheme as an addition to its existing educational initiatives.
However, Rajmohan said the state would not change its position on the two-language policy.
“As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, we follow the two-language policy, and we will continue to do so. There will be no change in our stand,” he said.
“Justice B.V. Nagarathna has expressed her opinion. This is not the verdict. The judicial proceedings are under way. We are not against Hindi or any other language. We have been successfully running model schools, and many students from these schools have excelled in higher education,” the Minister added.
