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MUMBAI: The Marathi versus Gujarati argument has cropped up once again. The BJP-led government in the state has chosen Vande Gujarat, a Gujarat government educational channel, to impart digital training to Class I and VIII teachers of board affiliated schools in Maharashtra , prompting the opposition to accuse it of being pro-Gujarat.

For the five-day training from September 24 to 29, the state education department has got the 9am-to-5pm slot on Vande Gujarat for free and has issued a circular asking all Class I and VIII teachers dealing with a new syllabus this year to instal the Gujarat-based channel on their set-top boxes. The channel is also available on the Jio TV app, the circular said. The lessons on the syllabus and how it is to be taught will be in Marathi.

The opposition has expressed surprise that the government chose a Gujarat-based channel despite the vast reach of Sahyadri, the Marathi channel of Prasar Bharati. The NCP sarcastically remarked on Friday that the government should declare ‘Gujarati’ as Maharashtra’s official language and Gandhinagar as its capital if they have so much love for the neighbouring state.

The Maharashtra government, however, has defended its idea of using Vande Gujarat as a platform. It has said the Gujarat government has 16 channels dedicated to education and has been providing free service of training through direct-to-home (DTH) route and a mobile app.

The issue of Gujarat and Gujarati has been playing out in Maharashtra’s politics ever since Narendra Modi became PM in 2014, with opposition parties and even ally Shiv Sena blaming the BJP for favouring Gujarat.

Opposition leader in the legislative council Dhananjay Munde said, “Earlier, the state had printed Gujarati lessons in Marathi textbooks, and now it will train Marathi teachers through a Gujarati channel. The decision is condemnable.” The NCP had in July alleged that a few pages of the Marathi version of the Class VI geography textbook were in Gujarati. The government had then rubbished the allegation.

Minister for school education Vinod Tawde said the opposition should study the issue before issuing any reaction. “We are not taking help from channels in Pakistan or China but from Gujarat, which is part of our country. Plus, Gujarat is giving us the service free of cost and a sufficient time slot, which would not be possible with Sahyadri,” Tawde said.

Tawde said Sahyadri (Marathi) channel was not controlled by Maharashtra but by the Central government. “Sahyadri would have taken lakhs of rupees from us to give us a slot. If we had paid them, the media would have criticised us for that,” he added. He clarified the app could be installed via DTH, Airtel, Vodafone or Jio.

Shobhana Hegde, a Class Iteacher at IES Patkar Guruji School, Dadar, said the problem with virtual training is teachers cannot ask queries. “They don’t get a chance to clear doubts. Also, the timing of training is wrong. It should have been completed in June. Now is time for the first semester exam,” Hegde said.

