The state government had, vide a Government Resolution dated July 7, 1999, decided to introduce a 100-mark paper in Sanskrit at the Secondary School Certificate examination with effect from 1999-2000 for students in English-medium schools. The option was, however, not extended to students of other non-Marathi mediums. Sanskrit is a scoring subject and hence the failure to extend this option to non-Marathi medium students is discriminatory, according to Jagdish Nanavati, convenor of the manch.

Earlier, under the Language Teaching Policy of the Maharashtra Government introduced in1994-95, only Marathi-medium schools enjoyed the option of a 100-mark paper in Sanskrit. Others were offered a 50-mark paper in Sanskrit along with a 50-mark paper in Hindi, in Stds VIII, IX & X.

Also, under the 1994 policy, the state government had disallowed English-medium schools from teaching non-Marathi mother tongues, from Stds V to X. ``It was only after considerable opposition that the state government introduced the ridiculous option of a 50-mark paper for non-Marathi languages with a 50-mark Hindi paper, and that too from Stds VIII to X only,'' according to a press release issued by the manch.

This did not quell though the agitation to restore the pre-1994 status of 100 marks mother tongue from Standard V to X. But in 1995, the government after some pressure, gave the facility to study only the Gujarati subject for 50 marks in standards V to VII and of 100 marks Gujarati from standards VIII to X, in English medium schools, said the release.

All other minority languages - Tamil, Telugu,Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi, Bengali, Urdu, Sindhi - were denied this facility. It was only when the matter came up before the Supreme Court that the Government conceded to introduce 50 marks paper in standards V to VII for other minority languages. It still refused to put them on par with Gujarati of 100 marks from Standard VIII to X. The court is yet to give its final decision, according to the release.