Maharashtra Assembly passes bill making teaching Marathi mandatory in all schools in state

On Thursday, a bill making the teaching of Marathi language mandatory in all schools of Maharashtra was passed in the State Assembly. The bill was passed with a strong majority. A day earlier, the bill was unanimously cleared in the Legislative Council after which it was presented in the State Assembly. 

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The Maharashtra Compulsory Teaching and Learning of Marathi Language in Schools Bill, 2020, was introduced by Minister for Marathi Language Subhash Desai. It provides for a penalty of up to ₹1 lakh on schools violating the law.

Read: Bill making Marathi language mandatory in all Maharashtra schools passed unanimously

The Bill was first introduced in the Legislative Assembly and then in the Legislative Council. However, as an exception, in this case, the Council chairman allowed Subhash Desai to introduce the Bill in the Upper House. During his speech in the Council, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray called himself fortunate to table such a bill during his tenure.

Read: Maharashtra Assembly to introduce Bill to make Marathi language compulsory in schools on Feb 27

'Decision was taken through mutual understanding': School Education Minister

The bill stated that many schools tend to keep Marathi as an optional subject, while some minority schools do not teach Marathi at all. Hence this bill was tabled to correct the oddity.

School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad told the Lower House that the decision was taken through mutual understanding after holding deliberations with all the educational boards including IB, ICSE, and CBSE.

"A bill that mandates the subject of Marathi language in all schools in Maharashtra has been unanimously approved in the Legislative Council. Now all the schools in the state will be given classes in 1st to 10th grade Marathi lessons!," Maharashtra Cabinet Minister and Shiv Sena leader Subhash Desai said in a tweet, roughly translated from Marathi. 

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(With Agency Inputs)