Chennai, In a significant development in Tamil Nadu’s education sector, noted soil biologist and ecologist Dr Sultan Ahmed Ismail has stepped down as Chairman of the State Curriculum Committee following directions from the School Education Department.
The new move came amid indications that the TVK government is preparing to constitute a fresh panel to oversee future syllabus revisions.
Dr Sultan Ahmed Ismail, who was appointed by the previous DMK government to head the committee tasked with revising the school curriculum, confirmed that he had been officially informed by the authorities that his services were no longer required as the government was in the process of forming a new committee.
The development comes just weeks after Dr Sultan and former School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi met DMK president and former Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to present the newly prepared textbooks developed under the committee’s supervision.
Announcing his departure through a social media post, Dr Sultan expressed gratitude to the previous administration and officials who had worked on the curriculum revision exercise. “I sincerely thank former Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, former School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi and the senior officials associated with the project for enabling the creation of a beautiful set of textbooks for Term-I for Classes I, II and III,” he said.
He further revealed that he had received an official communication from the newly formed government relieving him from the assignment. “I received an official call from the new Tamil Nadu government informing me that I am being relieved from this responsibility as a new committee is being constituted. I wish the new team all the very best and hope they continue the progressive approach that we initiated,” he added.
While the change in leadership has been confirmed, officials in the Directorate of School Education have remained tight-lipped about the composition of the proposed new committee.
Senior officials neither confirmed nor denied reports regarding the formation of a fresh panel and declined to clarify whether existing committee members would continue under a new chairperson.
The curriculum committee played a key role in revising school textbooks and learning materials as part of broader educational reforms initiated by the previous government.
The textbooks prepared by the committee have already entered circulation, with School Education Minister A. Rajmohan recently releasing the new books for Classes I to III.
The formation of a new curriculum panel is expected to be closely watched, given its potential influence on future educational content and policy direction in the state.
