MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government has stayed its order to make Hindi mandatory as a third language for students of Classes 1 to 5 in Marathi and English-medium schools in the wake of opposition to the move from various quarters. State School Education Minister Dada Bhuse on Tuesday made the announcement about the stay on the government resolution (GR). “We are staying the word mandatory (as mentioned in the GR).We will issue a revised GR,” he told reporters.
Learning Hindi as the third language will be voluntary, Bhuse said. The government decision taken last week to make Hindi compulsory as a third language for students of Classes 1 to 5 in Marathi and English-medium schools in the state had met with stiff resistance from different quarters, including some opposition parties. The move comes days after the Maharashtra government’s language consultation committee urged Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to revoke the decision.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray, who had opposed the move to make Hindi mandatory, said it was because of the initiative of his party that the government stayed the decision. He said had the government thought about this before taking any decision, it would not have to stay its decision. Thackeray said no other language but only Marathi will work in Maharashtra. Minister Bhuse also asserted that learning of Marathi language will be made compulsory in the state and the education department will see to it that it is implemented effectively. He stressed that the Centre did not pressurise the state to “impose” Hindi.
In an earlier GR which had made Hindi mandatory, Bhuse said the decision to make Hindi as the third language mandatory was taken according to the recommendations of the steering committee. He said since both Hindi and Marathi had a common Devanagri script it would have made the students easier to learn the language and even teachers. He said the policy on the third language has to be decided. For other languages, the government will assess the demand for language, do a detailed study and then take the decision accordingly.
When asked why a third language was introduced from Class 1, Rahul Rekhawar, Director of the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), said efforts will be taken to ensure children do not feel any pressure of any academic load of learning a third language. Defending the government decision, he said the policy to make Hindi mandatory and introduce a third language from Class 1 to 5 was not taken without consulting experts and the state government had extensive deliberations over the issue.
Rekhawar said a third language is only for speaking and listening purposes. He said very soon there will be a concept of equivalence of board and academic bank of credits to bring uniformity in evaluation of students. Bhuse said in future, when the state board-wise comparison takes place and points are awarded to students, the students of Maharashtra should not miss out on it. The three-language formula for classes 1 to 5 is a part of the new curriculum implementation under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. However, Rekhawar said the NEP does not make choosing any third language mandatory. The decision to make Hindi mandatory had invited criticism, especially from the MNS.
After the government announced that it was not making Hindi as the third language mandatory, Thackeray said. “How can you impose Hindi on a state that ruled the entire country but never imposed Marathi on any other state? What was the purpose behind this? If the Marathi person stands firm like this for the language or against those who are plot against Maharashtra, then who will dare to Marathi manoos for granted? Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has always stood for the Marathi person and language and will continue to do so. Let the unity shown this time be seen forever,” he said. The Maharashtra government’s decision also invited criticism from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin.
Taking to X on Monday, Stalin had said, “Facing a massive backlash for imposing Hindi as the third language, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis now claims that only Marathi is compulsory in the state. This is a clear manifestation of his trepidation over the widespread public condemnation against imposition of Hindi on non-Hindi speaking States.” “Hon’ble PM and Union Education Minister must clarify – Does the Union Government officially endorse his position that no language other than Marathi is compulsory in Maharashtra as the third language under National Education Policy,” he asked.
“If so, will the Union government issue a clear directive to all states affirming that the NEP does not require the compulsory teaching of a third language?” the Tamil Nadu CM asked. Hitting back Maharashtra CM Fadnavis asked why Stalin was “not open to multilingualism” and had a problem if someone wanted to study in Hindi. Stating that the NEP never insisted or made compulsion on the choice of a language and only asks to study any two Indian languages other than English, Fadnavis also asked Stalin to first know what NEP exactly was.
