Students in Maharashtra will no longer be forced to study Hindi in school. The state government announced on June 18 that a new policy makes Hindi optional, allowing students to pick any Indian language.
The decision is a change from an order issued just a day earlier, which had made Hindi the “general” third language for classes I to V. That sparked immediate backlash from opposition leaders and Marathi groups, who accused the government of trying to impose Hindi. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray called it a “hidden agenda.”
In response to the criticism, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis clarified the new rules: “We had earlier made Hindi compulsory, but in the GR (Government Resolution) issued yesterday, that compulsion has been removed,” he was cited as saying in media reports.
Under the new policy, if at least twenty students in a grade request to study an Indian language other than Hindi, the school must provide a teacher for it.
The Chief Minister explained that this change aligns with the National Education Policy’s three-language formula. This formula requires students to learn their mother tongue plus two other languages.
“While many people choose English, we want to promote all Indian languages, which are often neglected,” Fadnavis reportedly said, adding that subjects like engineering and medicine are now being taught in Marathi.
He said he had spoken to Thackeray, explaining that Maharashtra cannot adopt a two-language system when the rest of the country is following the three-language formula. “What is the harm in learning any third Indian language?" the Chief Minister asked.
