MUMBAI: Amid the controversy over making Marathi compulsory for non-Marathi auto and taxi drivers, a surprising trend has emerged in the Maharashtra State Board’s Class 10 (SSC) examination results: nearly 80,000 students have failed in Marathi, raising concerns about the state of the language and the government’s push to promote it.
The Maharashtra State Board conducted the SSC examination in 2026, and the results were recently declared. In a matter of serious concern for the state, 80,803 students out of the 1,087,699 who had opted for Marathi as their first language failed the subject, accounting for nearly 7 per cent of candidates.
Out of the 35 subjects covered in the examination, 12 recorded a 100 per cent pass rate.
Board data also revealed that among the 413,917 students who chose Marathi as their second or third language, 13,741 students failed. This development is being viewed as a significant concern for the future of the Marathi language.
According to education and language experts, the rising number of students failing Marathi is due to spelling mistakes and a declining habit of reading textbooks, newspapers and other Marathi literature regularly.
“If we are serious about addressing this issue, we must cultivate greater interest in the Marathi language among students and introduce changes in teaching methodologies. Schools should encourage more textbook reading and language exercises. The state government should also amend policy to make Marathi compulsory up to Class 12 so that students continue practising the language for two additional years,” experts said.
This year, the overall pass percentage in the state’s Class 10 examination stood at 92.09 per cent. Among the various regions, the Konkan division recorded the highest result, with a pass percentage of 97.62 per cent.
A total of 1,555,026 regular students from the state’s nine divisional boards , Pune, Nagpur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Mumbai, Kolhapur, Amravati, Nashik, Latur and Konkan — registered for the examination. Of these, 1,542,472 students appeared, and 1,420,486 passed successfully.
Meanwhile, all 302 students who opted for Gujarati as their second or third language passed the examination, recording a 100 per cent pass rate. Similarly, out of 96,331 students who chose Sanskrit as their second or third language, 95,571 passed. The pass percentage for Arabic stood at 99.59 per cent.