Maharashtra Government's Ultimatum: Schools Risk Recognition Revocation for Neglecting Marathi Education

In a recent government resolution (GR) issued on Wednesday, the Maharashtra government has warned of withdrawing recognition from schools that fail to include Marathi language instruction. The state emphasizes strict adherence to its 2020 notification, mandating Marathi as a compulsory subject in all schools.

The government was prompted to issue the directive after it found many schools weren't complying.The decision to have Marathi as a compulsory subject from classes 1-10 in all schools, including those affiliated to CBSE, ICSE, IB and IGCSE boards, was taken in 2020 by then Maha Vikas Aghadi government. The rule was to be implemented in phases, involving two classes each year; classes 1-6 in the academic year 2020-21, classes 2 and 7 in 2021-22 and so forth.

However, the decision couldn't be executed effectively due to the Covid outbreak. As a result, the government last year gave a one-time relaxation to the non-state board schools in evaluation of the subject for a single batch of students. While these institutions still had to teach the language to all the classes, the students who were in class 8 in 2022-23 were to be awarded grades in place of marks for their performance in the subject for the remainder of their three school years. These grades - A, B, C and D - aren't included in the final results.

However, the government found that some of the schools misread this relaxation in the assessment method and failed to teach the language sincerely. The schools have now been reminded of a provision in the 2020 notification that provides for revoking the schools' approval and no-objection certificates if they didn't implement the mandatory Marathi policy.