4000 marathi schools denied permission in Maharashtra

The state government has decided not to allow new Marathi medium schools till it spells out a new policy about setting up of such institutions. As a result, it has denied permission to start about 4,000 such schools in the state so for far this year.

State education minister Balasaheb Thorat on Wednesday said a new policy for Marathi schools will be drafted within the next four months.

At present, there are about 76,000 Marathi medium high schools and 6,000 Marathi medium junior colleges in the state.

The state government has hired a private agency to mark various existing schools with the help of remote sensing technique and map factors like populations of various hamlets, village and others, population of the students, geographical study of the area, etc.

“A student must not walk more than one kilometre while going to the high school,” Thorat said, adding that this is one of the criterion in determining need of such schools.

The new schools will be permitted where there is need and the study will help government to allow starting of ‘aided’ schools in the state, Thorat said.

On the other hand, since June 2009, many trusts took permission to start new Marathi  permanently unaided schools. “However, these schools formed an association and now are claiming government aid for functioning,” he said.