Textbooks dropped caste surnames of Tamil scholars in 2019 !
News claiming that the caste surnames of the Tamil scholars are removed from Tamil Nadu textbooks have created a discussion on social media. Just the names of the scholars remain in the textbooks. Discussion is on if the move is political or a need, and who has done it.
It is indeed true that the caste surnames are dropped from textbooks. The Chairman of Tamil Nadu textbook and educational services corporation, Dindigul Leoni, said that caste surnames were removed during the ADMK rule in 2019.
He said in an interview with Sun TV, “I collected details regarding the caste surname removal in textbooks as soon as the news went viral. And found that the information of caste surname removal in books of students till 12th standard is true. Namakkal Ramalingam Pillai has been changed as Namakkal Ramalinganar, and Tamil Thatha (grand old man of Tamil) U.V.Swaminatha Iyer has been changed as U.V.Swaminathar.
However, the print was made in 2019 with the mentioned changes. Mr. Sengottaiyan was the Minister of School Education and Ms. Valarmathi was the Chairman of textbook and educational services corporation in 2019. It was during their period that the decision was made and a request was raised to SCERT and the books were published. But the TV channels published the news as if it happened after the DMK comes to power. This is old news and those who were in the Education department in 2019 should answer any questions on it”.
When the 12th Tamil textbook published in 2020 is downloaded from the internet to check the details, it holds just the names of scholars say, U.V.Swaminathar. The first print of this book was made in 2019 and the revised version was in 2020. The page that holds the name of U.V.Swaminathar is doing rounds on social media.
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