Mumbai, Maharashtra (June 29, 2025): Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has announced the cancellation of two government resolutions issued on April 16 and June 17 that proposed making Hindi a compulsory third language in schools, alongside Marathi and English, as part of the National Education Policy (NEP). The state government has set up a new committee led by educationist Dr Narendra Jadhav. The panel will study the implementation of the three-language formula and submit its recommendations. The government said it will wait for the report before taking any further decision on the policy.
"Today in the Cabinet meeting, we discussed the three-language policy. We have decided that a committee will be formed under the leadership of Dr. Narendra Jadhav to determine from which standard the languages should be implemented, how the implementation should take place, and what choices should be given to students... Based on the report submitted by this committee, the state government will make a final decision on the implementation of the three-language policy. Until then, both the Government Resolutions (GRs) issued on 16th April 2025 and 17th June 2025 have been cancelled," CM said during the press conference held ahead of the monsoon session of the state legislature. The chief minister was joined by his deputies Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar.
The move comes after mounting opposition to the earlier orders. The June 17 amended government resolution stated that Hindi would “generally” be the third language but allowed schools to offer another Indian language if 20 students in a grade requested it. However, the order sparked a fresh wave of criticism the following day. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray and MNS chief Raj Thackeray announced a joint protest. Their parties planned to hold a rally on July 5 in Mumbai to oppose the language policy. After the cancellation of both GRs by the Maharashtra government, the July 5 protest has now been called off.