Mumbai: The private-board schools in the city have questioned the recent decision of the state to make Marathi a mandatory subject in all schools, amidst the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. School authorities claim this will add to their existing workload, increase expenditure, as they might have to hire new staff to teach Marathi, curate the new syllabus and create additional online classes.
Why has the state initiated this new rule amidst a lockdown, when schools are already facing hurdles, is the question posed by private school authorities. Rohan Bhat, trustee, Children's Academy Group of schools, said, "In this lockdown, our expenditure has already increased, as we have shifted the entire offline education system online. Teachers are working hard, conducting online classes every day without having taken a single day off in the last two months. Why has the state initiated this mandatory rule now, when schools are already scrambling for resources?" In addition, school authorities revealed they may have to hire new teachers to teach Marathi.
The principal of a CBSE board school said, "We did not have a dedicated Marathi language teacher till now. But now, I will have to hire teachers, as the state has directed to implement this mandatory rule in every class every consecutive year. This will add to our costs because we will have to budget for the salaries of these additional teachers. Also, we will have to create online teaching methods in Marathi because now, everything has shifted to e-learning." This is not the right time to enforce a mandatory rule, as it might lead to additional expenses, thus compelling schools to increase fees, said Bharat Malik of the Private Unaided School Managements Association (PUSMA).
Malik said, "Schools are already facing a resources and funds crunch due to the lockdown. While on the other hand, the expenditure has increased because schools are buying online licensed software, digital platforms, providing training and equipment to teachers for online education. Fees are the only resource for private schools and this mandatory rule might leave no option but to increase fees during a crisis situation."
Instead of making Marathi mandatory till Class 10, students should be given a choice at least after Class 8, Bhat stated. "Students should be given an option to select the language they want to learn at least once they reach Classes 9 and 10. The government should make it mandatory till Class 8 if they want to promote the state language but they should keep it optional later, considering that the entire higher education system is in English," Bhat said.
On June 1, 2020, the state school education minister Varsha Gaikwad had announced that Marathi would be a compulsory subject in all the schools of Maharashtra irrespective of their board, starting this academic year. The new Marathi language syllabus will be taught from Class 1 to 10 in all schools
