Over 100 Marathi Schools Shut in City in Last 10 Years, Reveals BMC Data

It's not a great report card for Marathi-medium, municipal schools — in the last ten years, across Mumbai, more than 100 Marathi schools have shut, of which 40 closed their doors in the last six years alone.

- Niraj Pandit

MUMBAI: During this period, the number of students in these institutions declined by more than 50,000, as parents increasingly choose to enroll their children in schools under different boards and mediums of instruction, particularly English.

Nowhere is this phenomenon more visible than in South Mumbai, where 20 Marathi schools shut between 2019 and 2025—exactly half the number of schools that closed during this period. The recent case of Nabar Guruji Vidyalaya in Dadar, an old and respected institution in a traditionally Marathi-speaking neighborhood, has drawn attention to this trend. Currently with just 18 students between Classes 6 to 10, the management has decided to keep the school going till the last student completes Class 10.