Mumbai: The Maharashtra Legislative Council on Wednesday unanimously approved a bill that makes Marathi learning and teaching compulsory in schools affiliated to all boards up to 10th standard with a provision for penalty in case of non-compliance and revoking No Objection Certificate or approval given by state government to open the school.
The Maharashtra Compulsory Teaching and Learning of Marathi Language in Schools Bill, 2020, was passed unanimously in the Upper House and it will be tabled in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday. February 27 is celebrated as Marathi language day in the state.
A bill is generally introduced and approved in the Assembly first and then it goes to the Council. However, in this case, the Council chairman allowed the minister concerned to introduce the bill in the Upper House first.
According to the legislation, schools found in non-compliance with the provisions of the bill would attract penalty of up to Rs 1 lakh.
Marathi teaching will be compulsory in all schools affiliated to all boards including ICSE, CBSE, IB, and Oriental. Even the schools run by linguistic minority schools will have to teach Marathi compulsorily. The state will have power to exempt a student or class of students from learning Marathi.
Council Chairman Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar said, “As per legislative procedures, a bill is generally cleared in the Assembly, and then tabled in the Council. But as an exception, I am allowing Subhash Desai,
Minister for Marathi Language, to table the bill (in the Upper House).”
