Vinod Tawde

Marathi

pro-Marathi

Savitribai Phule

Education minister’s uncertainty over a bill regarding makingcompulsory in schools has not gone down well withPuneites in the city. Several of them have now come together under the Akhil Bharatiya Maharathi Sahitya Parishad, demanding that state government should male Marathi compulsory across all schools in the city, irrespective of board or language, right from Class I Class to X.Laxmikant Deshmukh, chairman, Akhil Bharatiya Maharathi Sahitya Sammelan, said, “We have been asking the state government for the past six months now to pass a bill, making Marathi compulsory in all schools across the state. It is important to preserve the language and non-Marathi students should also learn the language if they are living in the state.”Deshmukh emphasised that states such as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, etc. have already introduced the bill which makes it compulsory for all private, government and national boards to teach the language practised in the state.“It has been observed that schools which follow national boards, or those that teach in other mediums such as Gujarati or Hindi do not teach Marathi at all. It should be made compulsory that all the schools teach Marathi and include its evaluation in examination so that the language is passed down through generations,” Deshmukh said.He added, “On one hand, the education minister assures us that the work on the bill is going on. Then, he backpedals and announces in the Assembly that passing the bill seems difficult. We have now demanded that it be passed as soon as possible.”Hari Narke, another well-known laureate, and head of the Mahatma Phule research chair atPune University, said, “Maharashtra got its freedom only on the basis of the language. It is important to have a bill that compels schools to teach Marathi as a language till Class X. If the state were to decide so, it can pass any bill in both houses in one day. We have demanded that next year’s first Assembly should pass the bill related to Marathi language in schools.”“Being a Marathi language state, the government should make efforts to preserve the language and encourage students to study it as a subject,” added Narke.It was also pointed out that parents are eager to send their children to English-medium schools and institutes that follow boards where students have the choice to opt out of learning. This, they feel, should not be allowed.