Tamil Nadu Group Calls Higher Education Bill Unconstitutional

The State Platform for Common School System – Tamil Nadu (SPCSS-TN) has written to the Joint Parliamentary Committee, set up to examine the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan (VBSA) Bill 2025, describing the bill as unconstitutional and demanding its withdrawal. The bill proposes setting up a central regulatory body, which the SPCSS-TN says would allow the union government to regulate universities and facilitate their closure.

The SPCSS-TN argues that the bill is a colourable exercise of power, exceeding the union government's authority under the Constitution. The group contends that the bill would weaken state universities, particularly in Tamil Nadu, and result in the privatization of education.

The VBSA Bill 2025 is seen as an implementation of the National Education Policy 2020, which the SPCSS-TN says failed to recognize the role of state universities in India's development. The group claims that the bill's centralization of regulation and standardization would undermine the state's reservation policy, subsidized fees, and special provisions for women's education.

The SPCSS-TN has called the bill an 'Indian version of McCarthyism', alleging that it aims to create a cult subservient to those in power. The group says that without adequate funding, state government universities would not be able to compete with private and foreign universities.

The Joint Parliamentary Committee will continue to examine the VBSA Bill 2025, with the SPCSS-TN's opposition likely to be considered in the committee's deliberations. The union government has not yet responded to the SPCSS-TN's demands, and the bill's fate remains uncertain.