TN must change mindset, allow Hindi in schools: SC

TN must change mindset, allow Hindi in schools: SC 

‘States Should Not Act Like Countries’   18.09.2026

New Delhi: Supreme Court on Thursday told Tamil Nadu govt that it needed to change its mindset towards teaching Hindi in schools and should thrash out issues with Centre on setting up Navodaya Vidyalayas in every district. As Vijay-led TN govt took the same stand taken by the previous DMK govt, a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and A G Masih said individual states cannot act like an individual country. “You have to change your mindset, it can’t be that Hindi will not be taught on the soil of TN,” the bench told the state govt. 

TN has been opposing setting up of these schools as they follow a three-language policy, including Hindi, which is against TN’s two-language policy. “We are saying in addition to all the good things you’re doing in your state, having something in addition will not bring down your standards. 

Coming from Delhi, will not lower the standards of Chennai. People in Chennai should not alienate Delhi and vice versa,” SC said. Senior advocate Jaideep Gupta, appearing for TN, submitted it is against federal structure to impose Centre’s decision on a state. “It is against the state policy. It supersedes Tamil. This kind of unification is not the purport of the Constitution. It is not a central govt school. It is a school run by a society. There is an adamancy that Hindi must predominate,” he told SC. Gupta submitted that cooperative federalism would never work in only one direction and such policy should not be enforced by SC. 

The bench, however, asked the state to comply with its order and posted the case for further hearing in Dec. Last Dec, it had directed TN to identify land required for establishing Navodaya Vidyalayas in each district within six weeks. “Comply with our earlier order. We are not asking you to acquire land. We are only asking to identify. We are concerned with the good of everybody. You can’t say I won’t accept a policy. Today it is education, tomorrow it will be something else. You have to relax this rigidity in your mind,” SC said.