Chennai, May 17 (IANS): The officials of the Higher Education Ministry of the Tamil Nadu government on Monday skipped a virtual meeting called by Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank to discuss the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

State Higher Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi said that the Tamil Nadu government did not skip the meeting but chose not to participate in it as the Union Education Ministry did not respond to a mail which he had sent earlier regarding NEP.

The minister said that in the email, he had expressed his willingness to attend the online meeting.

Addressing a press conference in Trichy on Monday, Poyyamozhi said, "I had taken up this matter with Chief Minister M.K. Stalin who said that asking only officials to participate in the meeting without ruling party members is against the federal system of governance."

"We responded to the email from the Union Education Ministry and sought permission to include the school education minister in the meeting, but so far we have not received any response," he added.

The minister said that the Union government had released the draft education policy in 2019 and Stalin, who was the opposition leader then, had released a detailed response to the NEP.

Stalin had opposed the recommendation to conduct board exams for students of Class III, V and VIII. He also opposed the recommendation to introduce vocational courses after Class VIII. Stalin was of the opinion that this appeared to be an imposition of hereditary education.

"The new education policy may cater to the children of elite and well-settled families in the society. It does not suit the majority of rural children. We seek changes to the new education policy as suggested by our Chief Minister and will try to achieve it through dialogue," Poyyamozhi said.