Move comes amid row in Tamil Nadu
Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has decided that Hindi as a third language will be mandatory for students in Classes 1 to 5 in Marathi and English-medium schools across the state in a departure from the practice of studying two languages.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray slammed the move, adding his party will oppose the decision vehemently and ensure that it is not implemented.
The three-language formula for Classes 1 to 5 is a part of the new curriculum implementation under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The state school education department has declared a phase-wise implementation plan of the new curriculum framework designed as per the NEP 2020 recommendations for school education.
“I want to make it clear that MNS will not tolerate this decision. We will not allow the central government’s current efforts to ‘Hindi-fy’ everything, to succeed in this state,” Thackeray said in a post on X. “Hindi is not a national language. It is a state language like other languages in the country. Why should it be taught in Maharashtra from the very beginning? Whatever your trilingual formula is, limit it to government affairs, do not bring it to education,” he said.
“Why have you started imposing the language of another region on Maharashtra? The very principle of linguistic regionalisation is being undermined,” the MNS chief said. “We are Hindus but not Hindi! If you try to paint Maharashtra as Hindi, then there is bound to be a struggle in Maharashtra,” Thackeray said.
The MNS chief wondered why Hindi was being forced on Maharashtra. “Will you force Hindi in a southern state? If you do, the governments there will be outraged,” he said. “Today they are forcing languages upon us, tomorrow they will issue other such fatwas,” the MNS chief said. The Opposition Congress slammed the state government, saying the move amounts to the imposition of Hindi.
Currently, only Marathi and English are being taught as mandatory languages from Classes 1 to 4 in these schools.
According to a Government Resolution (GR), Hindi as a third language will be compulsory from Classes 1 to 5 from the next academic year.
The new syllabus as per NEP will be implemented for Class 1 in 2025-26. For Classes 2, 3, 4 and 6, the policy will be implemented in 2026-27, for Classes 5, 9 and 11 from 2027-28, and for Classes 8, 10 and 12 from 2028-29, the GR said.
All schools in the state other than Marathi and English medium are currently following the three-language formula. For such schools, the language of the medium, English and Marathi will be taught, said the GR. For Classes 6 to 10, the language policy will be as per the state curriculum, it said.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the state has already implemented the NEP. Marathi has already been made compulsory, he said. Hindi should also be learnt, as it is a means of communication in the entire country, he said.
Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar said the move goes against the ‘Marathi asmita’ (pride). “There would have been no problem if Hindi were an optional language. But making it mandatory will hurt Marathi sentiments. Can we demand Marathi as a third language in Madhya Pradesh or Uttar Pradesh,” Wadettiwar said.
The states have been created by linguistic reorganisation. Priority should be given to the local language, and Hindi should have been made optional, he said.
