Page 16 - EW-June-2025

Education News

CBSE’s child health focused initia- Little wonder Gupta is in a hurry the country there is profound and ris-
tive has been widely welcomed. Com- to shed CBSE’s neta-babu board ing awareness that English/Inglish
ments Rita Kapur, Director of the image. learning from earliest age is the pass-
CBSE affiliated Gyanshree School, Autar Nehru (Delhi) port to prosperity and upward social
Noida: “This is a welcome move. In mobility.
our school we have already disal- MAHARASHTRA Therefore, it’s unsurprising that
provide cooked satvik — plain & less Democractic Maharashtra’s Marathi-medium
lowed junk food and cold drinks, and
school system, especially in Mum-
spicy — meals to children. Schools bai, is in visible decline. Over the
should consider providing in-school imposition past six years, 40 Marathi-medium
meals to not only ensure nutrition schools have downed shutters, with
control but also support the spirit of n all states of the indian union ill- student enrolment dropping by 35
this initiative.” advisedly reorganised on the ba- percent. According to data from the
The urgency behind CBSE’s May Isis of linguistic majoritarianism Brihanmumbai Municipal Corpo-
16 circular is reportedly driven by a in 1956, imposition of the dominant ration (BMC) and the Unified Dis-
report in the Diabetes Research and language as the medium of instruc- trict Information System for Educa-
Clinical Practice journal (August tion in schools is high on the agenda tion (UDISE), student enrolment in
2023) which says 15.35 percent of of political parties, with none of them Marathi-medium schools in Mumbai
Indian schoolchildren are in pre- bothering about developing and con- has fallen from 1.32 lakh in 2019-20
diabetic condition, and nearly 1 temporising these languages. Even to 85,000 in 2024-25 with the number
percent already have diabetes — a within academia most educationists of Marathi-medium schools declining
rare disease in the young. advise early childhood and primary from 461 to 421.
ealth professionals have also education in the mother tongue. This “The Maharashtra government
Hwelcomed the CBSE circular. claims Marathi-medi-
Says Dr. Deepmala Lalchandani, um schools are flour-
President of IMA Dwarka and ishing. But the ground
Deputy Medical Superintendent at reality is the opposite,”
Shri Dada Dev Matri Avum Shishu says Shripad Bhal-
Chikitsalya: “This is a huge step. chandra Joshi, con-
But these efforts must go beyond vener of the campaign
tokenism. Sensitizing children to group Chalval Marathi
food labelling, nutritional profiling, Chya Vyapak Hitasaa-
and calorie calculations is critical if thi. “This decline is not
the message is to stay with them.” just painful, it is unac-
Gupta’s initiatives to upgrade ceptable.”
CBSE are overdue because offshore With student num-
examination boards such as the bers in state and mu-
Geneva-based International Marathi medium students: steadily declining number nicipal government
Baccalaureate (IB) and Cambridge schools that provide
International, UK have slashed dominant opinion is reiterated by Marathi medium education declin-
affiliation fees, and with their the National Education Policy (NEP) ing continuously, Marathi language
contemporary syllabuses and new 2020, which despite a Supreme Court champions are demanding account-
technologies-driven assessment judgement delivered in 2012 after ability and explanation. Joshi has
systems are offering stiff competition many years of contention, clearly rul- written to chief minister Devendra
to CBSE. ing that parents are the best judges of Fadnavis, school education minister
To this list, add the Western medium of instruction for children. Deepak Kesarkar, and Marathi lan-
Australian Certificate of Education It’s well documented — especially guage minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha
Board which has been given equiva- by EducationWorld — that professed demanding a white paper on the cur-
lence to IB, Cambridge, CBSE and cultural pride and love of vernacular rent status of Marathi-medium educa-
CISCE in end-May. Simultaneously, languages of politicians and language tion. The campaign group also wants
the Delhi-based CISCE under re- chauvinists is rooted in numerous transparency on the number of school
cently appointed Secretary-General rackets — textbook writing and print- closures across Maharashtra and de-
Dr. Joseph Emmanuel is also getting ing contracts and well-paid teachers tails of planned revival efforts.
its act together to emerge as a rejuve- jobs for under-qualified kith and kin. Girish Samant, trustee of the
nated competitor to CBSE. Meanwhile in EWS households across AB Goregaonkar School in central

16 EDUCATIONWORLD JUNE 2025