State govt withdraws Hindi order after outcry
Days after the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and his estranged cousin Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray announced that they would stage a massive protest on July 5 against the state government’s move to introduce Hindi as the third language in schools from class 1, the government on Monday scrapped the decision. It also announced the formation of a committee under former Mumbai University vice-chancellor and Planning Commission member Narendra Jadhav to recommend steps for implementation of the three-language formula in schools as per the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020.
Addressing the media on Monday on the eve of the state legislature’s monsoon session, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said the two government resolutions (GR) on introducing Hindi as the third language, issued on April 16 and June 17, had been scrapped.
“The decision has not been taken under pressure, but because policies of the state government are aimed at safeguarding the interests of students,” Fadnavis said. The committee headed by Jadhav will have members from the field of education and it will submit its report within three months after studying the report of Mashelkar committee, he said.
The Mahayuti government’s U-turn on the contentious language policy came amid uproar among Marathi-speaking people in the state and pressure from its partners in the ruling alliance, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Shiv Sena.
The decision to scrap the two GRs was taken during a separate meeting held after the cabinet meeting on Sunday, sources told HT. During the meeting which lasted around 20 minutes, Shiv Sena ministers Sajay Shirsat and Dada Bhuse said the government should rethink the decision as public sentiment was completely against it, the sources said. The move may mar the ruling alliance’s prospects in the ensuing local body polls, the sources quoted them saying. Shiv Sena chief and deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde said though they had been following the ‘alliance dharma’, Marathi pride was the soul of their party and they could not support the decision, the sources added.
Shinde’s counterpart, deputy chief minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar, had already opposed the decision, saying Hindi should be introduced from class 5.
Fadnavis agreed to withdraw the GRs taking the sentiments of the two parties into consideration. Before announcing the decision to scrap the GRs, he said the move to introduce Hindi as a compulsory third language in schools was taken by the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government headed by Uddhav Thackeray.
“The MVA government accepted the three-language formula on September 21, 2020 and a GR to that effect was issued on October 16, 2020. The government then constituted a committee under Raghunath Mashelkar which recommended that Hindi and English be made compulsory in schools.” Fadnavis said. The Mahayuti government issued the two GRs in April and June in pursuance with work done by the MVA government to implement the Mashelkar committee report, he said, adding, We changed the decision to make Hindi mandatory and made it optional.”
Minutes after the announcement by the state government, the MNS and Shiv Sena (UBT) said the protest march scheduled on July 5 had been cancelled.
Deepak Pawar from the Marathi Abhyas Kendra, a civil society group leading efforts to stall the imposition of Hindi in schools, strongly criticised the government’s decision to appoint a fresh committee.
“Neither the NEP, nor the state education plan mentions any requirement for a third language,” Pawar said.
He also raised concerns about Jadhav heading the committee, saying it was inappropriate to appoint someone who was not an expert in child education to decide on such a crucial issue. The government set up the committee with the sole intention of getting a report that aligns with its predetermined agenda, he alleged.
REFERENCE: HINDUSTAN TIMES
