MUMBAI, Dec. 18 -- Unsafe school buildings combined with the preference of parents to educate their children through the English medium has led to a steady decline in the number of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) schools, which teach in vernacular languages such as Marathi, Hindi and Urdu, over the years. In the academic year of 2025-26, BMC vacated five school buildings after they were declared unsafe, compelling approximately 2400 students to change schools. The Marathi Abhyas Kendra, which has been at the forefront of opposing the compulsion of Hindi from Class 1 across the state, has appealed to Marathi-speaking citizens to unite against these closures and participate in a protest outside the BMC headquarters on Thursday. Earlier, concerned with the closure of civic schools that cater to students whose families belong to the lower socio-economic category, five organisations led by the body, held a special meeting on December 14 to find solutions for the survival of both Marathi-medium and BMC-run schools. Rajendra Mohite, president of the Brihanmumbai Shikshak Sabha and a BMC school teacher, who participated in the discussions, said: "We used to see long queues outside BMC schools till 1995 before each admission season. Many of these students featured in the merit lists of board examinations too. However, after the state government allowed private players to run self-financed schools in 2005, enrolment in BMC schools started declining. Many are on the brink of closure." Numbers support Mohite's observation. According to data available on UDISE Plus -- an educational management information system under the Union education ministry -- in the last 10 years, 114 Marathi-medium schools shut down. In 2014-15, the BMC had 368 Marathi-medium schools, of which only 254 remain today. Forty closures took place in the last six years. In the same period, 19 Hindi-medium schools and 20 Urdu-medium schools also shut down. Overall, the total number of BMC schools has declined from 1,252 in 2014 to 1,118 in 2024. The several municipal schools that were declared unsafe leading to their closure are: Paspoli Marathi School No. 2, in Powai; Khindipada School, in Bhandup; Mumbai Public School, in Colaba, along with similar schools in Tagore Nagar, Vikhroli, and on New Mahim Road. "The decade-long occurrence gathered steam 2019 onwards when the Mori Road school in Mahim was demolished and students were shifted to nearby schools," said Pranal Raut, an activist from Mahim. He added, while this school was yet to be rebuilt, another one in the vicinity also shut down, which has led to drop outs. Deepak Pawar, founder of Marathi Abhyas Kendra, said, "While movements to protect Marathi schools and the Marathi language are underway, there is an urgent need for consistent and visible action on the ground." He demanded that the BMC publish a comprehensive report detailing the present status of all civic-run schools. Apart from unsafe buildings, the number of students choosing to study in the Marathi medium dropped by over 50,000 between 2014 and 2024. Mohite observed that since over a decade parents of low-income families started choosing English-medium schools for their kids. "While they could not afford expensive private schools, they believed an education in English would secure a better future for their children. Besides, the government's push towards self-financed English-medium schools created a strong competition for BMC schools, which began losing students," he said. As quality teachers in these new schools posed a challenge, some parents have had to pay a price for the Marathi-to-English shift. Pramod Tiwari, a resident of Dharavi, said his daughter studied in a BMC-run English-medium school because English was taught from Class 1. However, by the time she reached Class 5, he realised she could not read even a single sentence in English. "The teachers were not teaching properly. I had to shift her to a private English-medium school," he said. He added that although BMC offers free facilities, poor learning levels forced him to seek better options. "I pay Rs.15,000 annually in the new school which is hard on my purse," said Tiwari. Mohite underscored, since 1997, "there have been no new recruitment of Marathi-medium teachers in BMC schools". He added, as many existing teachers are sent for non-educational government work, many schools hire teachers on clock-hour basis and paid Rs.50 per class. "How can such teachers offer quality education?" Jalindar Sarode, working president of Shikshak Sena, added in some cases, "Marathi-medium teachers are shifted to English-medium schools, and Hindi-medium teachers also teach English". Another reason for decline in Marathi-medium schools, said Pawar, is because of BMC's policy that puts focus on CBSE, ICSE and IB schools while neglecting Marathi and state-board schools. "The NEP 2020 encourages education in the mother tongue, but the BMC is prioritising English-medium schools. Children are shifted from one building to another, and old buildings are demolished even when repairs could have sufficed," he said. Deputy municipal commissioner (Education) Prachi Jambhekar put down the shift to the need to the time. "Today, students in every medium are being taught higher-level English," she said, adding that "the civic body is improving infrastructure in schools instructing in vernacular mediums as well"....