English to Be Treated as a "Foreign Language" in Classes 11-12 in Maharashtra

The State Council for Education, Research and Training (SCERT) of the Maharashtra government has created a draft curriculum that incorporates English as a Foreign Language and as a non-compulsory subject for Classes XI and XII.

For these two classes, English is a required subject under the present curriculum. Also, until June 3, the SCERT is accepting recommendations from interested parties. The proposed curriculum called for eight topics for Classes XI and XII, including two languages, four electives, and two required subjects.

A set of 17 Indian languages, comprising Marathi, Sanskrit, Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Sindhi, Bengali, Punjabi, Pali, Telugu, Ardhamagadhi, Maharashtri Prakrit, and Avesta-Pahalvi, must be selected as one of the two languages.

English has been added to the list of foreign languages, which now includes Arabic, Chinese, Persian, Russian, Japanese, and Spanish.

Either the first or the second group could be the source of the second language. Therefore, English would not be required.

The proposal also mentions multidisciplinary education, emphasizing the changes brought about by climate change.