The School Education Study and Action Coordination Committee has demanded a white paper report from the Maharashtra government on the status of Marathi-medium schools in the state. In a press conference held on Saturday, Dr Deepak Pawar, the founder of the Marathi Abhyas Kendra, and other committee members expressed their views on the debilitated status of Marathi schools. The members spoke of neglect shown to Marathi schools over the past few years, in the background of increasing “CBSEisation and ICSEisation that has accelerated the closure of aided schools even at the taluka level”.
Talking to mid-day, Dr Pawar said, “Teachers at Marathi schools are riddled with non-teaching jobs, nearly 10 such schools have been shut in the city following building audits, Marathi learning is not well-implemented in English schools, and there are no reports on language learning status at regional schools. These are among the many concerns faced by our group. After Diwali, we are going to share a formal document with the chief minister and the state education department, requesting a status evaluation of Marathi schools in the state.”
Stating that there is unequivocal opposition to the three-language policy in Maharashtra, the group also took a stand against the Narendra Jadhav Committee, which is re-evaluating the plan. The School Education and Action Coordination Committee is planning to publish a booklet explaining its stand on the educational, linguistic, psychological, and socio-cultural consequences of making a third language mandatory for school students, along with the internal colonialism and cultural politics of Hindi after the Diwali break, too.
