The Mahayuti government, comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Eknath Shinde headed Shiv Sena, withdrew the Government Resolution (GR) on the three-language format in schools and announced the formation of a committee headed by Dr Narendra Jadhav to study the issue in detail. The final report submitted by this committee will be accepted to decide on further action.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday, speaking to a media person, said, “In today’s cabinet decision, we have decided to cancel the GR and form a committee to study the three-language format in the education system.”
Further, slamming the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition for misleading the citizens, Fadnavis said, “It was the MVA that had accepted the three-language format. In fact, it is Mahayuti that made Marathi mandatory and Hindi optional. But now that we have withdrawn the GR and appointed a committee, the report submitted by Dr Jadhav and other members will be accepted for further action to be taken on the same.”
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The CM said that for his government, Marathi people and students are at the centre and his dispensation does not want to indulge in politics over the issue.
In April, the Mahayuti government had issued a GR stating that under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, Maharashtra would adopt a three-language format, with Hindi as the third language. However, following a backlash, the government revised its order, clarifying that Hindi would not be mandatory, but an optional language. However, critics saw this as a backdoor push to promote Hindi.
As per NEP, two of the three languages taught in schools should be native to India while the regional language is mandatory.
The proposal met with strong backlash in the state, with the opposition parties announcing to come together to protest against the decision. In fact, the issue even brought estranged Thackeray cousins, Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, together. They announced to bury their differences and walk together in the protest march scheduled on July 5 from Girgaum Chowpatty to Azad Maidan and continue the agitation till the decision is withdrawn by the government.
