India, Aug. 5 -- The state government has directed schools across Maharashtra to organise a seven-day 'Indian Language Summer Camp' in August, and to preserve attendance records, photographic evidence and reports as proof of compliance.

The directive, issued through a June 22 circular from the state school education department, applies to government and government-aided schools. It has been criticised by teachers, saying they are already burdened with non-academic work and may not be able to conduct another activity during the school term.

The initiative falls under the Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat programme, which encourages "multilingual learning". The circular states that schools can choose any one of 121 Indian languages.

The 28-hour...