Page 20 - EW August 2025

Education News

of the Amanmovement.Org. ployable kith and kin
“It’s imperative to empower in Marathi-medium
students to avail the protection avail- schools.
able under law. A greater degree of “Printing millions
official and public sensitivity towards of textbooks in com-
this issue is required,” says Prof. pulsory vernacular lan-
Kachroo. guages is good business
Meanwhile the report of the ten- for local publishers who
member NTF which will address the write, print and sup-
rising incidence of student self-harm ply textbooks to state
and suicides — scheduled to be ready governments. That’s a
by next March — is awaited. multi-crore industry
Autar Nehru (Delhi) with very little regula-
Mumbai anti-Hindi protest: contracts stimulus tion. Once Marathi is
MAHARASHTRA entrenched as the pri-
Convenient cover are supported by several regional enti- mary medium, politicians rush to
plant their own frontmen as publish-
ties such as the Marathi Study Centre
and allied cultural groups. ers, into the system. Moreover because
n april, the state’s coalition gov- Bowing to widespread protests, in- such texts are published by under-
ernment comprising the Bharati- cluding a planned joint rally by previ- qualified publishers and written by
Iya Janata Party (BJP), the Eknath ously estranged cousins Uddhav and barely qualified authors with political
Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s Raj Thackeray, now heading splin- connections rather than pedagogical
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ter groups of the Shiv Sena, a politi- credentials, they are riddled with er-
mandated adoption of the three-lan- cal party founded by late Shiv Sena rors,” says Dr. Biswanath Chakra-
guage policy prescribed by NEP 2020 strongman Bal Thackery (1926-2012), varty, professor of political science at
with Hindi as the third language for the government withdrew its GR (gov- Mumbai University.
classes I-V children in all 100,000 ernment resolution) on June 29, and he rot extends to teacher appoint-
government and aided schools state- constituted a committee under Dr. Tments, where linguistic chauvin-
wide. Narendra Jadhav, former mem- ism serves as a convenient cover for
This was expected as BJP the domi- ber of the Planning Commission with nepotism. With over 100,000 gov-
nant party in the coalition, also heads the brief to review the three-language ernment schools in Maharashtra, the
the BJP/NDA coalition in New Delhi. policy while retaining Marathi as the push for Marathi-medium education
However, opposition parties Shiv core focus. ensures a steady demand for teachers
Sena UBT (Uddhav Balasaheb Thac- At first glance, the resistance to schooled in Marathi-medium — D.Ed
keray) and Maharashtra Navnirman Hindi seems irritational. Marathi and diploma holders, most of whom are
Sena (MNS) are fiercely opposed to Hindi share the Devanagari script under-qualified relatives of political
the three-language policy stating it and phonetic structure, unlike Tamil leaders and bureaucrats.
is a disincentive to learn Marathi, the and other peninsular India languages “These so-called teachers, armed
dominant and official language of Ma- which have distinctive scripts. Hindi with fake credentials from obscure
harashtra. These regional parties are poses no such challenge in Maha- state government universities are
in favour of children learning only two rashtra. Yet widespread opposition of parachuted into government schools
languages — Marathi and English (In- regional political parties to children to secure jobs for loyalists,” says Dr.
glish). learning a third language — especially Abhay Bang, a renowned public
According to them, learning three Hindi — is not unconnected with text- health expert, educator, and social
languages is a “burden” for children. book printing contracts and teacher activist based in Gadchiroli, Maha-
Moreover, they believe that introduc- appointments. rashtra. “It’s a deliberate dismantling
tion of Hindi the dominant language According to sentient monitors of of education, where merit is sacrificed
of the populous north Indian states Maharashtra’s sliding education sec- for political dividends.”
and also stipulated by the Constitu- tor, politicians’ love for Marathi and Maharashtra’s opposition to the
tion of India as the national language, opposition to Hindi is less driven by three languages learning mandate of
threatens the Maharashtrian identity love of Marathi than love of lucra- NEP 2020 is a distraction from sys-
(‘Marathi Manoos’) and encourages tive textbooks printing contracts for temic failure as testified by the latest
cultural domination by the Hindi- Maharashtra’s 100,000 government Annual Status of Education Report
speaking majority. UBT and MNS pro- schools, translation deals, and high (ASER) 2024 published by the inde-
tests against the three-language policy wage island teachers jobs for unem- pendent Pratham Education Foun-

20 EDUCATIONWORLD AUGUST 2025