Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday (April 17, 2025), has defended the State government’s decision to make Hindi a compulsory third language for students in grades one to five, saying it will facilitate better communication with the Central government. However, the move has drawn criticism from Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, who opposed the decision.
Mr. Fadnavis highlighted that Marathi is already compulsory and is now making efforts to ensure that all of us also learn the language of the country. “This is not a new notification, it has always been there in the education policy. The Central government, through this medium, is making bridges for communication,” Mr. Fadnavis said, while speaking to the media.
The Maharashtra School Education department on Wednesday (April 16, 2025) announced that Hindi language will be compulsory as the third language in Marathi and English-medium schools for classes one to five. Currently, only two languages – Marathi and English have been mandatory for grades one to four in Marathi and English-medium schools.
Regional political parties, including the MNS, questioned the need to impose Hindi on Maharashtra. MNS chief Raj Thackeray criticised the government’s move to make the Hindi language mandatory for grades one to five and said, “The party will not tolerate this compulsion and won’t allow the Central government’s efforts to impose ‘Hindi’ everywhere as it is not a national language.”
He also questioned, “Hindi is a State language, then why should it be taught in Maharashtra from the first grade? Whatever your trilingual formula is, limit it to government affairs; do not bring it to education. Language-based provincialisation has lasted for so many years, so why are you imposing the language of another State on Maharashtra just now?”
As a part of the new curriculum framework for School Education, under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, Hindi will be mandatory. The State School Education Department issued a Government Resolution (GR), mentioning the phase-wise implementation of the new curriculum based on NEP 2020 recommendations.
According to the GR, at present, all the schools in the State, except Marathi and English medium ones, follow the three-language formula, with a plan in place that the Hindi language will be compulsory from classes one to five, starting from Grade one in the upcoming academic year.
The NEP 2020 recommendations of the 5+3+3+4 structure of school education will be integrated from the foundational stage to secondary education. It means – the foundational stage consists first five years (three years of pre-primary and grades 1 and 2), grades 3 to 5 will be the preparatory stage, grades 6 to 8 will be Middle school, and Grades 9 to 12 will be Secondary Education.
The syllabus of the State Board will be based on the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), having Maharashtra’s local context in subjects like history, geography, and languages.
Education from the foundation level to the degree level has been built on five fundamental pillars of inclusiveness, equity, quality, affordability, and accountability, as per the GR.
Published – April 17, 2025 07:49 pm IST
