English Becomes Optional: Maharashtra’s New Draft Curriculum

The Maharashtra SCERT has classified English as a foreign language and non-compulsory subject for Classes XI and XII in a new draft curriculum. English will now fall under the foreign languages category, which includes languages like German and French. The draft invites stakeholder suggestions until June 3.

English has been classified as a foreign language and non-compulsory subject for Classes XI and XII as per a draft curriculum prepared by the State Council for Education, Research and Training (SCERT) of the Maharashtra government. Under the current curriculum, English is a compulsory subject for these two classes.

The SCERT has also sought suggestions from the stakeholders till June 3.

As per the draft curriculum, there would be eight subjects for Classes XI and XII -- two languages, four elective subjects and two compulsory subjects. Of two languages, one has to be chosen from a group of 17 Indian languages including Marathi, Sanskrit, Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Sindhi, Bengali, Punjabi, Pali, Telugu, Ardhamagadhi, Maharashtri Prakrit, Avesta-Pahalvi. English has been included in the category of foreign languages along with German, French, Russian, Japanese, Spanish, Chinese, Persian and Arabic.

The second language could be from either the first or the second group. English, thus, would not be a compulsory language.

The draft also speaks of education in interdisciplinary areas with special focus on changes that are taking place due to climate change.