No 'compulsion' to learn Hindi as 3rd language, says Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis on row over govt order

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday said the compulsion for students in the state to learn Hindi has been removed in a new order and now any Indian language can be chosen as the third language reported news agency PTIWhile English is widely promoted Indian languages are often neglected Devendra Fadnavis told reporters in Dehu and maintained that disputes over languages are unnecessaryThe state government on Tuesday issued an order saying Hindi will generally be taught as the third language to students in Marathi and English medium schools from classes 1 to 5The amended government resolution GR said Hindi will generally be the third language instead of being mandatory and gave the option to optout if 20 students per grade in a school express the desire to study any Indian language other than HindiSome proMarathi outfits accused the government of reintroducing the policy through the backdoor after initially backtracking and the opposition Congress accused the government of stabbing the Marathi people in the chestMNS head Raj Thackeray asked what was the need to impose Hindi on students and appealed to schools in the state to foil the governments hidden agenda to deliberately create a language divideHindi is the state language of some northern states and it is wrong to force it on Maharashtra where Marathi is widely used he assertedFadnavis said the GR clearly states that Marathi is compulsory while Hindi is optionalWe had earlier made Hindi compulsory but in the GR issued yesterday that compulsion has been removed As per the new GR students can opt for any third Indian language the CM saidThe threelanguage formula was proposed in the New Education Policy NEP According to the policy the mother tongue is mandatory and apart from that students will learn two other languages one of which should be an Indian language he saidNaturally many people choose English as one of the three languages Fadnavis said reported PTIHe said that earlier Hindi was proposed as the third language because its teachers are available in good numbersWe have now removed that rule Any Indian language can be chosen as the third language If there are at least 20 students a teacher will be made available If necessary online education will also be facilitated the CM said reported PTIHe said while everyone promotes English Indian languages are often neglected which is not appropriateIndian languages are better than English I understand that English is a language of communication but because of the NEP Marathi has become a language of knowledge We have started teaching engineering in Marathi something that wasnt done earlier Fadnavis said reported PTIOur doctors are now receiving education in Marathi MBA course is also being taught in Marathi Because of the NEP Marathi is becoming a global language a language of knowledge and economics and the Maharashtra government has adopted this move I believe such disputes over languages are unnecessary he said reported PTIOn Raj Thackerays opposition to the new order Fadnavis said he has already spoken to the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena MNS headHe Thackeray is insisting that only two languages should be taught and a third language should not be imposed I tried to explain that the Centre after a lot of deliberations introduced the threelanguage formula in the NEP the CM said reported PTIIf the entire country is following the threelanguage formula Maharashtra cannot adopt a twolanguage system he saidTamil Nadu government had approached the court over the threelanguage formula but it did not accept their plea Fadnavis pointed outI want to ask what is the harm in learning any third Indian language the chief minister said reported PTIThe NEP was formulated after thorough deliberations by experts across the country While working on the NEP the cognitive power of children how to develop their mental capabilities and all these things were taken into consideration he saidWith inputs from PTI