State-appointed committee to share report on three-language policy in 3 months
According to the GR, the committee members, apart from Jadhav, will be appointed by the state government soon. The committee will study the report by a panel appointed by the previous Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government regarding the three-language policy and 'discuss the issue with the concerned constituents, institutions, and people,' it said. The committee will also study what other states and union territories that have adopted the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 have done, it added.
However, many stakeholders have opposed the move, including cousins Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, who have announced that their parties will not accept the Jadhav committee's report. In response, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said that his government will not tolerate any pressure regarding the policy.
'We have constituted the Narendra Jadhav committee to take a call on the implementation of the three-language formula, and we will act upon it keeping the interest of the students and people of Maharashtra in mind. We will not tolerate any pressure from anybody,' he said.
The row over the three-language policy, which is part of NEP 2020, began when the state government on April 16 passed a resolution making Hindi the compulsory third language in Marathi- and English-medium schools across the state. Following backlash, the government revised the policy on June 17 through an amended resolution, stating that Hindi will 'generally' be the third language unless at least 20 students in each grade want to learn another language.
The amended resolution was also slammed by regional parties and educationists, who said it was in effect a backdoor entry of the compulsory-Hindi policy. After the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), headed by estranged cousins Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, announced a joint protest rally against the move, the state government scrapped the two GRs on June 29 and appointed the Narendra Jadhav committee to find a way forward.
However, the formation of the committee, too, has been opposed by stakeholders. Deepak Pawar from the Marathi Abhyas Kendra, a group that led the opposition to the state's move to make a third language compulsory, raised concerns about Jadhav's appointment, saying it was inappropriate to appoint someone who is not an expert in child education to decide on such a crucial issue.
Mahendra Ganpule, a member of the state curriculum framework committee, concurred, saying, 'We have objections to this committee. This committee should be formed unanimously under the chairmanship of child education experts, child psychology experts, and language experts.'
Jadhav, 72, is an economist, educationist and author who has written or edited 41 books in three languages—English, Hindi and Marathi. He has been a member of the Rajya Sabha, the Planning Commission of India and the National Advisory Council. He has also served as chief economist at the Reserve Bank of India and vice-chancellor of the University of Pune.
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