A state government order has been issued that for the students who change over from other syllabus such as CBSE to the Tamil Nadu state government syllabus, the subject of Tamil will not be compulsory in the 10th Standard.

The subject of Tamil has been made compulsory by the state government in all the government and government-aided schools from the 1st Standard to the 10th Standard.

The state government of Tamil Nadu has also issued an order that from the academic year 2015-16 onwards, the schools following CBSE syllabus must introduce Tamil as a compulsory subject starting from the 1st standard and to continue for every subsequent year for the higher classes.

Accordingly, in the coming academic year, Tamil would have continued as a compulsory subject up to the 4th Standard.

For the minority students, who do not have Tamil as their mother-tongue, and studying in the 8th Standard, they will have to take Tamil as a compulsory subject in the 10th Standard. However, it has already been announced that in case these students have joined or joining in the 9th or the 10th Standard, Tamil will not be a compulsory subject.

In this situation, a new concession has been given that for the students who had studied in other syllabi such as CBSE or ISCE and deciding to join the 9th or 10th Standard under the Tamil Nadu state government syllabus, taking  Tamil as a subject will not be compulsory.

Presently, for the students studying under other syllabi, until the academic year 2017-18, Tamil has been made compulsory subject only till the 3rd standard. So, the students in the 4th to 10th Standards of this category could not have studied Tamil. So, the parents of these students put up a petition explaining this that the subject of Tamil cannot be made compulsory all of a sudden. This was enquired by the High Court which has issued orders to the state government department of education.

Subsequently, the state government of Tamil Nadu has released the above news of Tamil not being made a compulsory subject.

However, this act or order will be in implementation until the academic year of 2024-2025. After this, the rule will be that even for the students under different syllabus who joined the state government syllabus, Tamil will be a compulsory subject.

Thanks: livechennai