The Union Human Rights Development Ministry has abolished German as a third language in Kendriya Vidyalayas across India. It is now mandatory for students from classes 6 to 8 to study Sanskrit, along with Hindi and English.
HRD minister Smriti Irani claims that teaching German as a third language ‘violates’ the National Language Policy and the Three Language Formula.
So, it’s official.
Sanskrit will be taught as the third language, and poor German has been relegated to the position of a “hobby language”. We’re not sure what that is.
However, our primary concern here, is the timing. This change has been implemented mid-session, which means the students face an uphill task. They will have to write their final examinations in Sanskrit, which they have not studied for. This is what high-school nightmares are made of.
At the request of some parents, the Supreme Court has directed the Centre to postpone the implementation of this until next year.
Do you think this is valid? Is it fair for the students to lose out in this tussle between the HRD ministry and the judiciary?
Shouldn’t the students have a choice regarding which language they’d like to study? Also, what about the job security of German language teachers who now stand displaced?
Shouldn’t our education system make more room for the study of foreign languages, rather than less?
