Maharashtra passes law making Marathi compulsory in all schools

NEW DELHI: Maharashtra's Shiv Sena government on Thursday, February 27, passed a bill in the Legislative Assembly making Marathi a compulsory subject in schools from Classes 1 to 10.

The Bill, titled Maharashtra Compulsory Teaching and Learning of Marathi Language in Schools Bill, 2020, will be effective from this year itself. Once notified, it will be implemented in a phased manner from classes 1 to 6 in 2020-21, and eventually till class 10 in subsequent years .

It will apply to all schools, including those affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education, or CBSE, and Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, or CISCE. The schools will have to pay a penalty of Rs 1 Lakh if found non-compliant.

Minister of Marathi Language Subhash Desai said that the government will have the power to exempt a student or a class of students from all or any of the provisions of the Act, the Press Trust of India reported.

Maharashtra has a government order in 2012 making Marathi compulsory in all schools, including CBSE and CISCE. However, the current government opted to bring in legislation as they felt that many schools are not heeding the 2012 order.

The Bill was passed on the official Marathi Language Day celebrated on the birth anniversary of Jnanpith Award winning poet V V Shirwadkar.

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