Maharashtra Assembly passes bill making Marathi a compulsory subject in the state

Vinod kakumanu
March 2, 2020, 12:14 p.m.

In an important development a bill instituting Marathi as a compulsory subject across the state, from class 1 to 10, has been unanimously passed by the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.

The bill was passed on February 27, "Marathi Bhasha Din" (Marathi language day), the birth anniversary of poet and Jnanpith award winner late V V Shirwadkar.

Maharashtra has a bicameral legislature, the bill titled "Maharashtra Compulsory Teaching and Learning of Marathi Language in Schools Bill, 2020", was also passed by the Legislative Council.

The bill was introduced by minister for Marathi Language, Subhash Desai in the Assembly. The government made a submission that the legislation making studying of the regional language is similar to the ones passed in other states including Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. It was stated that the language will be taught as a compulsory language across the state irrespective of the board of education. The implementation of the legislation will take place in a phased manner form the academic year 2020-21. Initially, the language will be introduced from class 1 to 6 and subsequently, it will apply to the remaining classes. From the year 2024, the language will be taught from class 1 to 10 across the state.

The bill has a provision of exemption, a student or a class can be exempted if the government sees substance in such a request.

Mr Desai said the rules that are to be framed under the Act would ensure there is no misuse of the exemption.