Deputy Education Minister P. Kamalanathan denied there was a directive from his ministry to state education departments ordering them to stop the teaching of both languages, as speculated in social media.

“Recently, I received information there is a message going around claiming the ministry has sent letters to state education departments pertaining to this matter.

“I deny such a letter was issued. The Education Ministry has never extended any such messages to state education authorities,” he told reporters.

Kamalanathan admitted there were financial constraints in paying for these extra language classes, but this was not reason enough to stop such lessons altogether.

“We will find solutions to these financial issues.

“One of the roles of state education authorities is to ensure the teaching of both Chinese and Tamil is continued.

“If there are issues, please send them to the ministry so that we can take initiatives to address them.”