Mumbai: In an extraordinary step, a government -appointed committee has opposed its language education policy of the state, urging Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis that the language advisory committee, which gives the government on matters related to Marathi language, passed a resolution on Friday, demanding that no third language including Hindi be taught before class 5.
The resolution was passed during a meeting held in Pune, in which 20 of the 27 members of the committee participated. Kiran Kulkarni, secretary of Marathi Language Department, was also present during the meeting.
Committee chairman Laxmikant Deshmukh said, “This is the first time a government -backed body has taken such a stand against the government decision.” “We are not against Hindi or any other language, but implementing it in early schooling is neither educationally nor culturally suitable. Language learning in early years should focus on mother tongue for strong basic skills.”
Deshmukh said that the committee had already cleared the concerns after the decision to make Hindi a part of the syllabus of primary school, but its objections were shifted to one side. “The government tried to bypass it by presenting misleading interpretations,” he said. “We want the government’s proposal on this matter to be lump sum.”
Members of the committee including the famous language expert Prakash Ulb and senior Marathi writer Shripad Bhalchandra Joshi raised the issue during the meeting and got unanimous support. Joshi, a scholar and educationist, warned of deep consequences. “Later English was introduced as a compulsory subject in primary classes in non-English-middle schools in 1999 and Marathi was introduced after seven years, children neither learned English nor mastered Marathi.
The main function of the language advisory committee is to give advice to the government on the development and protection of Marathi language. This involves preparing a new dictionary, selecting standardized words, preparing guidelines for the use of language and determining language policies between other things.
The resolution also states that the idea of ​​starting a third language should be considered only after class 5, and yet, it should remain optional. “As a advisory committee, we strongly advise that the government avoids starting a third language in primary schools,” Deshmukh said. “By doing so, the psychological development of students can be negatively affected and the state’s cultural identity can be weakened. To express our concerns, we have also decided to attend the fronts being held on 5 July.”
