‘We want dropouts back in school’

With the demand for Marathi medium schools in the city declining by nearly 40% in the last five years, the need to attract students to their state language is being felt now more than ever. There has been a huge 38.8% drop in the number of Marathi-medium students, with around 68,000 fewer children admitted to BMC schools in 2009-10 than in 2004-05. DNA speaks to school education minister Balasaheb Thorat on the measures that state is taking towards making the language popular in the city.

Are you perturbed to see the declining number of Marathi-medium schools?
The number of Marathi-medium schools is diminishing only in the city. The problem is not the same across the state. Understanding concepts in your mother tongue gives an extra edge to students. It is unfortunate that parents do not understand that. There is a craze for English medium schools now, as knowing the language is a must in the competitive and global world. In cities, there are more nuclear families, working parents, who prefer to send their children to English medium schools. The same is not the case in rural areas. There are more Marathi-medium schools across the state, than any other medium. This trend is witnessed only in Mumbai, because of the cosmopolitan nature of the city. In rural areas, you find Marathi-medium schools within a kilometre of each other

What should be done to attract more students towards learning their language?
The only policy, I keep insisting on, is that all English medium schools have good quality teachers for Marathi so that they can teach the language to students. And, all Marathi-medium schools should have good English teachers. Some years ago, we had good English teachers. Students who passed from Marathi medium schools earlier, speak English so well. They never had any problem with studying in a Marathi-medium school. Most prominent people in the city in different fields have studied in Marathi-medium schools.

What measures is the state taking to attract more students towards Marathi-medium schools?
The state recently announced that all Marathi-medium schools should go semi-English by teaching at least Mathematics and Science in English. More such student-friendly measures will solve the problem. As students opt for engineering and medical in the future, these concepts should be taught in schools in English.

How do you ensure that English is taught well in Marathi medium schools?
We are looking at hiring good quality teachers. Improving the quality of education is also important. We have hired 15,000 DEd teachers who are trained in English for primary schools. We are planning to reserve 20% seats for teachers trained in English. With such measures, the quality of English training in Marathi-medium schools will also improve. Once people start knowing that they will get to learn English in Marathi-medium schools, we are hopeful of getting more takers. 

The Right to Education Act will be implemented from this year in schools. Is the state ready?
We are taking up different measures step by step. Different policy decisions need to be taken and schools will be informed about it. We have already implemented the no-failure policy up to Std VIII. The focus is on both accessibility and quality of education to all students between the ages of 6-14. We are working on getting dropouts back to school and ensuring quality education.