The expanded committee has been tasked with determining how Marathi, English, and a third language, which could be Hindi, should be introduced in schools, from Classes 1 to 5.
Photo: IANS
The Maharashtra government has issued a government resolution (GR) expanding the committee led by former Planning Commission member Narendra Jadhav to recommend the framework to implement the three-language policy in schools.
The new members of the committee are former Chairman of the Language Advisory Committee Sadanand More, former National School of Drama Director Waman Kendre, Pune-based educationist Aparna Morris, Pune-based Deccan College’s Sonali Kulkarni Joshi, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar-based educationist Madhushree Savji, Pune-based child psychologist Bhushan Shukla and Mumbai-based Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan State Project Director Sanjay Yadav.
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The expanded committee has been tasked with determining how Marathi, English, and a third language, which could be Hindi, should be introduced in schools, from Classes 1 to 5.
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The move to form the committee came after the Fadnavis government was forced to withdraw two earlier government resolutions which had sparked widespread criticism for imposing Hindi in Maharashtra, especially after the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena protested against it.
Reacting to the expansion of the expert committee, Deepak Pawar of the School Education Research and Action Committee said, “All those who opposed the decision to impose Hindi as a third language have not been given any representation. Our opposition to the imposition of Hindi will remain irrespective of the committee’s report”.
It may be recalled that on April 16, the Fadnavis government had issued a GR making Hindi a compulsory third language for students from class 1 to class 5 in both English and Marathi medium schools. A revised GR on June 17 softened the stance, stating that Hindi would be “generally” the third language, but not mandatory.
Despite this revision, the MNS, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, Congress and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP strongly opposed what they called an “unconstitutional” attempt to impose Hindi in Maharashtra.
On July 6, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and MNS chief Raj Thackeray held a joint rally, celebrating the rollback of the government resolutions and vowing to resist any further efforts to impose Hindi in schools.
After the backlash, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis clarified that no final decision had been taken and the Narendra Jadhav-led committee would assess the issue comprehensively before any language policy is implemented.
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