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Indian Express
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Educationists question revisions in 3-language policy: How can schools adjust to frequent changes?
The state government's changing stance on the third language policy has led to a chaotic beginning to the academic year, according to teachers in Maharashtra. The government's announcement of the formation of a new committee for fresh recommendations on the issue has left many of them baffled, as unit tests are only a month away. Teachers have urged the government to wait until the next academic year before implementing any new decisions. After multiple revisions, the Maharashtra government on Sunday halted the three-language policy by revoking two contentious Government Resolutions (GRs) issued in this regard. As Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis made the announcement, he also informed about the formation of a new committee headed by Dr Narendra Jadhav to further analyse the policy of introducing a third language in Classes 1 to 5 of Marathi and English medium schools under the Maharashtra State Board. Questioning the government's intentions, Mahendra Ganpule, former head of the Maharashtra School Principals Association, said, 'The state is simply playing with the future of lakhs of young children. From the imposition of Hindi as the third language to making it optional and changing its learning goals, the government has altered its stance multiple times on the third language—so much so that it also included readjusting the timetable structure for schools.' 'It is not easy to fix a timetable for any school, which is generally finalised well before schools reopen after the summer break. But in June, a new structure was imposed to accommodate the third language, and now there is a pause on its implementation. How are schools expected to adjust to these frequent changes,' he asked. Ganpule highlighted how some schools might have had to rejig their timetable to match the new structure issued by the State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT), which now requires another revision. 'When will they focus on academics?' he questioned, pointing out that unit tests are approaching in August. The state's school education department initially introduced the third language in Class 1 and made it mandatory to teach Hindi. Following backlash, a revised order stated that students could opt for any other language in place of Hindi, but a teacher would be provided only if there were at least 20 students in a class requesting the alternative—thereby making Hindi the default third language. While opposition continued, School Education Minister Dada Bhuse later announced that in Classes 1 and 2, the third language would focus only on spoken skills, and the reading/writing component would be introduced in Class 3. Finally, the Chief Minister halted the entire process on Sunday by revoking the two GRs. 'Although the Chief Minister has announced the cancellation of the 'Three Languages from Grade 1' directive, considering past experiences, it is difficult to place trust in this,' said Dr. Madhav Suryavanshi, Chief Coordinator, Education Development Forum, Yashwantrao Chavan Center. He added, 'Previously, despite public assurances by the Chief Minister and the Education Minister that three languages would not be made mandatory from Grade 1, the government ultimately implemented the decision to mandate three languages from Grade 1 from this academic year. Unless an official order is issued cancelling the 'Three Languages from Grade 1' decision, this government's stance cannot be trusted.' Questioning the urgency, senior educationist Vasant Kalpande urged the state government to wait until the next academic year. 'This academic year has already started. Instead of disturbing it, it will be better if the government takes time to make a final decision. A new committee is set to study the three-language policy. They should be given time for a thorough study, and their recommendations should be made public for suggestions and objections before a final decision is taken.' Kalpande further emphasised that when educational decisions are made without taking into confidence all those concerned with the decision, then those become issues of identity. 'When educational issues take on the form of linguistic, caste-based, religious, or cultural identity matters, political interference becomes inevitable. This is exactly what happened in the case of this arbitrarily made decision. It can be avoided if adequate time is spent to follow the procedure.'
Indian Express
19-06-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
SCERT releases revised timetable structure for Class 1 to accomodate third language
The State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT) on Thursday released a revised timetable structure for Class 1 to accommodate a third language. This came a day after the Maharashtra government issued a revised Government Resolution (GR) stating that Hindi will be taught as the third language in Marathi and English medium schools across the state for Classes 1 to 5. With the new timetable, the stipulated minutes to be spent on each subject have been reduced, creating a major gap from what is recommended under National Curriculum Framework (NCF). The document released by SCERT, adds a third language to Classes 1 and 2 formally, as until now, the only official document in this regard, which is State Curriculum Framework-Foundation Stage (FS), recommended only two languages for these classes, as per NCF. 'The changes will be applicable to Class 1 from academic year 2025-26. Whereas for Class 2, these changes will be applied after the introduction of the new syllabus and curriculum as per the SCF,' states the document released by SCERT Director Rahul Rekhawar. Even as the NCF-recommended timetable structure suggests 50 to 60 minutes spent on each subject, the state's revised timetable structure reduced it to 35 minutes. 'This was bound to happen as the NCF-FS includes only seven subjects, whereas the state has added one more subject by introducing a third language from Class 1. To accommodate the additional subject, time spent on all other subjects has been reduced,' said Mahendra Ganpule, former head of the Maharashtra School Principals Association. The note released by SCERT also provides a sample timetable. It states 'Schools can design their own timetable, based on their timings. But they will have to stick to the stipulated time mandate per subject.' According to schools, this announcement has come very late as schools have already started and structuring the timetable is finalised way before that. 'Now that we are almost a week into the new academic year, a new timetable guideline has been issued. Schools have already started with the timetable structure issued in the past in the SCF-FS, which does not include a third language for Class 1,' said a senior teacher. Schools have also complained that the government has included a new subject into the timetable structure for Class 1, without clarity on teachers to teach the third language, alternatives to Hindi, and curriculum guidelines.
