'Bill to make Marathi must in schools in Assembly on Feb 27'

The Maharashtra government will on Thursday introduce the bill making the Marathi language mandatory in all schools in the state, the Legislative Assembly was told on Wednesday.

School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad told the Lower House that the decision was taken through a mutual understanding after holding deliberations with all the educational boards including IB, ICSE, and CBSE.

The proposed bill seeks to make the Marathi language compulsory from class 1 to class 10.

"The government has also studied the pattern being followed in Southern states in teaching local languages in their schools," the minister said.

Objecting to her statement, Shiv Sena MLA Bhaskar Jadhav questioned the need to study such a pattern. "The minister should talk about the stand of the state government," he said.

In her reply, the minister said she had already stated that the state government was firm to make the Marathi language compulsory in schools.

Interjecting, BJP MLA Sudhir Mungantiwar demanded that rules of the legislature be changed for conducting the proceedings exclusively in Marathi.

"Present rules say that the proceedings can be held either in Marathi, English or Hindi," he said.

To which, Speaker Nana Patole said he would respond to Mungantiwar's question on the legislative rules.