Marathi becomes compulsory in Maharashtra schools | Fusion - WeRIndia

Now the Marathi language became a compulsory subject in all schools in Maharashtra. The Uddhav Thackeray-led government passed a bill in the state Legislative Assembly yesterday making Marathi a compulsory subject in all schools.

The bill was tabled on the occasion of Marathi Language Day. Marathi Language Day is celebrated on February 27 every year in Maharashtra and Goa to mark the birth anniversary of renowned Marathi poet and Jnanpith award winner late V V Shirwadkar.

The bill was passed in the Council and was introduced by state Language Minister Subhash Desai in the Lower House of the State Legislative Assembly.

In this context, Desai said that the legislation had similar laws in other south Indian states including Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.

As per the bill, teaching and studying Marathi are compulsory in all schools. The schools should have to follow the law even if they are affiliated to other boards, for instance, CBSE.

Marathi must be taught as a compulsory subject in all classes in a phased manner from class 1 to class 10 starting from the coming academic year, i.e. 2020-2021.

For example, in the coming academic year, Marathi will be introduced in the first and sixth standard and it would be extended to the next classes in the succeeding years.

From 2024, Marathi will be taught in all classes. Government prescribes a curriculum on this and all schools will have to follow it.

However, the government can exempt any student or a class of students from the provisions of the Act.

Anyone that is not compliant to the Act will have to pay a penalty of ₹1 lakh.

Opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis welcomed the bill. But he objected on the exemption and penalty amount saying that ₹1 lakh is very low for schools as they charge lakhs of rupees from students. He also said that the bill lacks a provision for repeat offenders.

Image attribution: Iftikher Uddin Siam / CC BY-SA 4.0

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