Won’t allow indirect bid to bring PM SHRI: Rajmohan

Chennai: There will not be any indirect attempts to implement Prime Minister's Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) in Tamil Nadu, school education minister Rajmohan told mediapersons on Tuesday.Rajmohan also criticised the practice of the Centre withholding funds over non-implementation of PM SHRI in the state and said: "These funds are meant for students, not govt officials. Withholding funds is unacceptable. Tamil Nadu will not bow to such pressure."The minister's response comes a day after he told the mediapersons that the state govt will have to assess whether the policies of PM SHRI aligned with the goals of Tamil Nadu.Reiterating the state's stand on the two-language policy, he said there was no room for ideological compromise. Drawing a parallel with Singaporean statesman Lee Kuan Yew, he said: "TVK stands firm on the two-language policy of mother tongue and English. Even Lee Kuan Yew developed Singapore from scratch and used only English to reach out to the world," he added.As a part of his initial work in the department, Rajmohan said that the basics in schools will be improved. "We will ensure toilets are maintained well in govt schools, provide access to clean drinking water, and upgrade classroom infrastructure. We will focus on enrolments in govt schools. Govt schools are high in number, but low in student strength compared to private schools. This will be corrected," he added.Earlier in the day, the minister distributed handbooks and teacher training material for classes I-III to 200 state-level trainers. These trainers will travel to districts in the state to train primary teachers of classes I-III in teaching methodologies.Nine textbooks have been released by the department. TNTESC said 3.24 lakh handbooks have been released for teachers of classes I-III.