Supreme Court Justice Prasanna B Varale, while attending an event organised by a high school in Maharashtra’s Dhule district, highlighted concerns over the shrinking education budget in Maharashtra, which he said was contributing to the closure of state-run Marathi-medium schools.
Speaking at the event, organised to mark the launch of ‘Smart Classes’, Justice Varale said that even if 0.1% of the funds being spent on events such as the Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Simhastha or Nashik Kumbh Mela were allocated to education, several Marathi-medium schools could have been saved from closure.
Justice Varale cites Kumbh spending
Justice Varale was attending the event at a school where he had studied for a few years. He said, “The government claims to allocate vast funds for various initiatives. The Deputy Chief Minister mentioned Rs 32,000 crore, and the Chief Minister mentioned Rs 34,000 crore for the Kumbh Mela. I read elsewhere about Rs 11,000 crore being allocated for a corridor project,” reported Bar and Bench.
Clarifying that he had no objection to the government spending large amounts on development projects, Justice Varale said, “However, if out of these thousands of crores of allocated funds, even just 0.1%—around Rs 32 crore—were spent by the government, then 100 to 125 Marathi-medium schools that have closed down across the state would not have shut down.”
He also pointed out that several schools continue to lack basic infrastructure, despite large amounts being spent on other initiatives. He said that even a small fraction of such expenditure could help hundreds of educational institutions struggling with inadequate facilities.
Importance of Marathi-medium education
Having studied in the same school in Marathi medium, Justice Varale stressed the importance of education in the regional language. Sharing his personal experience, he said he had studied in municipal and Zilla Parishad Marathi-medium schools until Class 10 and that studying in the regional medium never hindered his career but instead enriched his perspective.
“Learning through the Marathi language gave me a broad, open-minded perspective toward others. My language taught me the values of brotherhood,” he said.
Concern over education budget
Justice Varale also expressed concern over what he described as a decline in the share of the education budget over the years, despite the growing student population. Referring to the allocation at the central level, he said the provision for education had earlier been around 11 per cent and should have increased with the rising number of students. However, he said the allocation had declined and had not even reached 13 percent for many years.
Highlighting the lack of basic amenities in several schools, Justice Varale urged students to develop a strong passion for studies and encouraged teachers to inspire learning beyond textbooks.
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