The school education department in Maharashtra required all schools and junior colleges in the state to make Marathi teaching compulsory up to class 12. This has led to confusion among the parents as well as school administrators. The non-state board schools are especially in a confused state.
A committee headed by the cultural affairs minister Sudhir Mungantiwar was established in 2022 to come out with a plan to promote Marathi language. It has recommended that the students learn the language for at least four years.
In the year 2020-21, Marathi became a mandatory subject after the enactment of the Maharashtra Compulsory Teaching and Learning of Marathi Language in Schools Act was passed by the legislative assembly the education department that mandates that Marathi must be taught and evaluated as a core subject for schools in the state and across all boards to teach till class 12.
While state board schools have been teaching the language as a required subject till class 10, international boards like Cambridge university and International Baccalaureate have been teaching the language since 2020. Central boards such as CBSE AND CISCE have been teaching the language as well, as a graded subject until class 8.
Subsequently the Sept 14 government resolution (GR) which reiterated Marathi to be taught as per the 2020 Act, several CISCE schools have started teaching Marathi in class 9. “We started Marathi classes from 1 and went upto class 8. This year, we will be asking students to learn Marathi till class 9, The problem will definitely arise they have to take it in class 10,” said the principal of an ICSE school.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, schools were allowed to treat the language as a graded subject, with concessions given to students in the eighth, ninth, and tenth grades, respectively. On September 13 this year, the government announced that Marathi would be a compulsory core subject in all schools starting from the academic year 2025-26. This decision marks the end of concessions previously given due to the pandemic, and the new cultural policy proposal ratifies this.
Principals have raised their concerns over the lack of clarity and dilemma over teaching of Marathi. “If a student has to learn Marathi for over four years, almost all schools are teaching the language. The problem that arises is to have the students take it in class 10 and 12,” said the principal of an IB school. Balbharati textbooks are being used by the non-state board schools. “Learning a local issue is not the issue as long as schools are allowed to grade,” the principal added.
International school heads share their plight over facing difficulties with Marathi when admitted to schools here. They recommend exceptions to be made for the students especially the ones in higher classes and provide them textbooks with basic language for such cases.
The government resolution (GR) issued on friday has stated that unlike the current system, which allowed for grading in certain cases, the evaluation of Marathi will now be done on a marks-based system. The government has clarified that this policy will be uniformly applied to ensure that the language is given due importance in schools. This shift is part of the government’s broader efforts to promote the language across all mediums of instruction in the state.
