Maharashtra Govt. Withdraws Order Making Hindi Compulsory

 Mumbai: Faced with a huge backlash in the state, the Maharashtra Government on Tuesday finally withdrew its decision to make Hindi mandatory as a third language for students of Classes 1 to 5 in Marathi and English-medium schools. State School Education Minister Dada Bhuse made it clear that the State Government has stayed its order to make Hindi compulsory in primary schools.

“Hindi language will not be made compulsory. We are withdrawing the word ‘mandatory’ Hindi language (from the government resolution) and a fresh GR would be issued in this matter. The third language in Marathi and English medium schools will be optional,” he said.

The move comes days after the Maharashtra government's language consultation committee urged Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to revoke the decision. Committee chairperson Laxmikant Deshmukh had written a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis urging the government to scrap the move.

Bhuse clarified that those who are interested in Hindi will be given the option of Hindi. “We had taken Hindi only because it is compatible with Marathi and has the Devanagari script. The next revised government decision in this regard will be issued soon,” he added.

MNS chief Raj Thackeray welcomed the decision saying the government should have acted much earlier on the issue. “The Hindi language imposed by the Maharashtra government from class 1 onwards was lifted only due to the initiative and support of the MNS! Thanks to the government for taking the right decision,” he said.

The issue was also discussed in the cabinet meeting, which was chaired by CM Fadnavis. A senior official, who was present in the meeting, said that the CM apprised the cabinet about the reasons for making Hindi language compulsory from the class one to class five saying that the teachers for Hindi language are available in more numbers in the state as compared to other languages in the country. However, the opposition parties created the perception that the government was imposing Hindi in the state, the CM said.

“To counter the opposition perception, the chief minister asked the school and education department to revise the order and not to make Hindi compulsory,” the senior official said.

He said that choices will be given to the students about the third language. “If 20 students prefer any Indian language including Bengali, Gujarati, Urdu, Kannada and Hindi, it will be taught from the class one. The students will be taught online if the demands come for other Indian languages,” the official said.

The state government’s decision to make Hindi language compulsory apart from Marathi and English from standard one has created a huge controversy and been ridiculed from all quarters across the state.

The opposition parties including Congress, Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP), Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and Raj Thackeray-led MNS all condemned the government’s move. The MNS workers staged protests aggressively in Mumbai and Pune opposing compulsion of Hindi language with Raj Thackeray saying his party would not tolerate the compulsion of Hindi in the state.

According to the GR issued by the school and education department of the state government, Hindi language would be compulsory as the third language in Marathi and English-medium schools for class one to class five from academic year 2025-26. At present, two languages -Marathi and English- have been mandatory for Class one to four in Marathi and English-medium schools.

The GR was issued based on the guiding principle of NPA. As per the NPA, “The three-language formula will continue to be implemented while keeping in mind the Constitutional provisions, aspirations of the people, regions, and the Union, and the need to promote multilingualism as well as promote national unity. However, there will be a greater flexibility in the three-language formula, and no language will be imposed on any State. The three languages learned by children will be the choices of States, regions, and of course the students themselves, so long as at least two of the three languages are native to India. In particular, students who wish to change one or more of the three languages they are studying may do so in Grade 6 or 7, as long as they are able to demonstrate basic proficiency in three languages (including one language of India at the literature level) by the end of secondary school.”