Thane: The Thane Municipal Corporation‘s education department has directed city and suburban schools in its jurisdiction to prominently display their names in Marathi and keep official communication with govt in the local language.

A circular mandating the same was sent to all recognised, aided, and unaided schools operating in Thane late Wednesday, asking them to comply with the norms as part of a 2024 govt directive. The schools and their respective management were told to start enforcement of the directive and submit a compliance report in the next eight days, said a senior civic official.

The Thane Congress unit, which claimed to have raised the issue, urged that daily school communications with govt departments should also be strictly conducted in Marathi. “The real honour for the state language will come only when all administrative documents and correspondence with govt agencies, including records, applications, orders, and accounts, are maintained in Marathi. The teaching medium and the communication with parents, however, can be exempted,” Congress city president Vikrant Chavan said.

Experts said the enforcement should not just be restricted to Thane but should be taken up across the state.

Meanwhile, Thane political circles are abuzz after Congress waded into the terrain of enforcing Marathi signboards – a trend synonymous with the Shiv Sena and MNS for several years. “Though Congress seems to have hijacked the Marathi issue, possibly keeping the forthcoming civic polls in mind, the demand is completely justified,” said a political observer.