The Maharashtra government, under Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, announced on Saturday, September 14, that the Marathi language will be compulsory in all private and government schools, across all mediums, starting from the 2025-26 academic year.
The examination for the Marathi language subject will be held in all medium schools, with evaluations conducted through a marks-based system instead of a grading system.
This decision was made after it was noted that the Marathi language was not being taught with the required seriousness in non-Marathi medium schools, where it was previously evaluated using a grade-based system. In response, the Maharashtra government has mandated the compulsory implementation of the Marathi language, with a shift to a marks-based evaluation system.
On April 1, 2020, the Education Department issued a government directive making Marathi compulsory in all medium schools. Since the 2020-21 academic year, steps have been gradually taken to implement this policy in schools across the state.
However, due to the COVID-19 lockdown during the 2020-21 academic year, regular examinations were not conducted in schools affiliated with boards other than the State Board. As a special concession, the Marathi language subject was assessed on a grade basis for specific batches: the eighth-grade batch in 2022-23, the ninth-grade batch in 2023-24, and the tenth-grade batch in 2024-25.
This concession applies only to these specific batches. Starting from the 2025-26 academic year, the Education Department has decided that the Marathi language subject will be evaluated using a marks-based system in all medium schools. As a result, future Marathi language exams will no longer follow a grade-based system, and students will be awarded marks instead of grades.