Uttar Pradesh to make Marathi optional in schools

Lucknow: Students in Uttar Pradesh in near future will get a hang of Marathi language aside from Hindi.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityananath, perhaps in a bid to shed the Hindi chauvinist image, is reportedly mulling over including Marathi as an optional language.

A report by Times Now said Yogi Adityanath has agreed in principle to the suggestion by BJP leader Kripashankar Singh.

Singh wrote to the Chief Minister urging him to include Marathi for secondary and higher secondary students in UP, in order to get them better employed in Maharashtra.

A pilot project to initiate Marathi could be rolled out in Varanasi sometime.

Yogi's decision might fly in the face of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's opposition to "outsiders" getting jobs in Maharashtra.

Singh was quoted as saying he had been staying in Maharashtra for the past 50 years. He noticed students from UP struggling with Marathi when they tried for jobs there. He added that skills in Marathi was required for jobs in government positions and corporations.

In recent weeks, the use of Marathi has also become a bone of contention in the western state, the report said.

The call to display Marathi signboards cropped up as a key political issue ahead of the the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls with the Shiv Sena and its rival MNS eyeing Marathi voters.

In March, the Maharashtra Assembly made displaying Marathi sign boards mandatory for all businesses in Uttar Pradesh and Marathi optional in schools.

As deadline for displaying Marathi signboards ended, the BMC said it would go around checking if shops were abiding by the order.