The Maharashtra government on Tuesday issued an order making Hindi a “generally” taught third language for students from Class 1 to Class 5 in Marathi and English medium schools, PTI reported.

According to the amended order, if 20 students per grade in a school wish to study any other Indian language, they can opt out of Hindi. If such a demand arises, either a teacher will be appointed or the language will be taught online, the news agency quoted the order as stating.

The Maharashtra School Education Department issued the government resolution as part of implementing the “State Curriculum Framework for School Education 2024”, which aligns with the 2020 National Education Policy, PTI reported.

While Hindi is not mandatory, Marathi will remain a compulsory language in all medium schools, according to the resolution.

On April 16, the Maharashtra government had announced plans to implement the 2020 National Education Policy from the academic year 2025-’26.

This made Hindi compulsory as the third language for students of Class 1 to Class 5 in Marathi and English medium schools, replacing their existing two-language structure with the three-language formula.

On April 20, a language consultation committee appointed by the Maharashtra government opposed the decision to make Hindi a mandatory third language in primary schools.

On April 22, the government stayed its April 16 order. The new directive said that while the three-language policy would still take effect, students would no longer be required to study Hindi as their third language.

The three-language formula refers to teaching students English, Hindi and the native language of a state. It was introduced in the first National Education Policy in 1968 and was retained in the new policy introduced in 2020.

Backlash to new order

The government resolution passed on Tuesday received backlash from Marathi language advocates who accused the government of reintroducing the policy through the “backdoor” after initially backtracking, PTI reported.

Vasant Kalpande, the former chairman of the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, told PTI that it is unlikely to find 20 students in a class opting for a non-Hindi language.

“The provision to make teacher available online is also an attempt to discourage opting for any other language than Hindi,” the news agency quoted him as saying.

Hindi as a third language is not mandatory in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Gujarat and Assam, Kalpande added.

Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal accused Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of “stabbing” the Marathi people, stating that the fresh government order on the three-language formula was a planned plot to impose Hindi.