Maharashtra relaxes mandatory Marathi subject policy for non-state board schools

Mumbai: Maharashtra government has relaxed its earlier decision of mandatory teaching of Marathi in non-state board schools. While these schools will still have to teach the language in all classes, the students in classes 8, 9 and 10 will be awarded grades in place of marks for their performance in the subject. These grades - A, B, C and D - won't be included in the final results.

According to an official from the state education department, the decision was taken after it was revealed that many students in non-state boards students struggled with the language. "The students who are transferred to schools in Maharashtra had a hard time learning Marathi as they were unfamiliar with the language. As there's a no-detention policy in place till class 8, the mandatory Marathi learning largely impacted the students in higher classes," said the official.

The decision to have Marathi as a compulsory subject from classes 1 to 10 in all schools, including those affiliated to CBSE, ICSE, IB and IGCSE boards, was taken in 2020 by then Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. The rule was to be implemented in phases, involving two classes each year - classes 1 and 6 in the academic year 2020-21, classes 2 and 7 in 2021-22 and so forth. However, the decision couldn't be implemented effectively due to the advent of Covid-19 pandemic.