THE Gujarat Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed a Bill which makes teaching Gujarati language compulsory in all primary schools in the state, across all the boards.
The “Gujarat Compulsory Teaching and Learning of Gujarati Language Bill 2023” has a provision to impose penalty ranging between Rs 50,000 and Rs 2 lakh for violation by a school for one month.
If a school is found violating the provisions of the Bill for more than a year, the government can disaffiliate the school. Students with domicile outside Gujarat may be exempted from all or any of the provisions of the Bill.
A textbook approved by the state government will be taught for Gujarati language from classes 1 to 8 in all education institutes of the state, Education Minister Kuber Dindor stated in his address on the Bill in the House.
“A child who studies in English medium and become a doctor or engineer will be able to serve in the rural areas only if he or she knows Gujarati,” the Minister added while presenting the Bill in the House.
The Education Minister further added that despite Gujarati being the official language of Gujarat, it is not even taught as a subject in some schools.
Both the opposition parties Congress and Aam Aadmi Party supported the Bill. Congress MLA from Khedbrahma in Sabarkantha Dr Tushar Chaudhary said, “After studying in Gujarati medium, I faced a lot of problems in my higher education which was in English medium. So I decided to send my children to English medium schools. But the result is that today they are not able to read Gujarati papers and are unaware about Gujarati literature. I do not want this to be the future of Gujarat as without development of Gujarati language, Gujarat cannot be developed.”
However, during the discussion on the Bill, Congress MLA from Anklav and leader of the Congress Legislature Party in the House Amit Chavsa stressed on the failure to implement the 2018 Government Rresolution, asking all primary schools to introduce Gujarati language as a mandatory subject in primary schools from class 1 to 8, by the government. Citing National Education Policies of 1968 and 1986 and 2020, he said the first language in school education has to be the mother tongue.