Should Kendriya Vidyalayas give preference to Sanskrit as the third language or German? The position of the government is that while Sanskrit is the third language, German can be taught as a hobby and not a subject.
Though the German chancellor Angela Merkel too put in a word with prime minister Narendra Modi not to discontinue teaching German, there has not been much enthusiasm among students of 6-8 in Maharashtra and across the country to learn German.
Do students prefer German?
No. Only two out of 10 students have opted for the language in the state. Across India only 70,000 have opted for German. Most of the CBSE schools in Maharashtra don't offer German at all. For instance, Rajhans Vidyalaya (CBSE) at Andheri offers only Sanskrit to class 6-8 students as third language while Apeejay School at Navi Mumbai offers Sanskrit, Marathi and French but not German.
Do state boards offer foreign languages?
State boards don't offer foreign language in upper primary classes. The board however offers German as a composite subject along with Hindi (50:50 marks) in class 10 as the third language. But takers are few. Nearly 1,700 candidates opted for composite German in class 10th this year across Maharashtra as against 2.17 lakh candidates who had taken Sanskrit as second or third language or composite language (with Hindi or Marathi), according to Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education. Four times more candidates were learning French than German in class 10 in Maharashtra.
Why is Sanskrit popular?
"Sanskrit is popular among students mainly because it is a scoring subject and also because it is base of all Indian languages so learning becomes easy for students of different mother tongues," says Lakshmikant Pande, chairperson of the Mumbai division of the MSBSHSE.
How was German introduced in schools?
It was three years ago that Germany succeeded in convincing the Indian government to include German as a third language in the CBSE curriculum for classes 6 to 8. However, Germany itself doesn't believe in practising what it preaches and Hindi and Sanskrit are nowhere to be found in curriculum of schools in Germany. It is Mandarin (a dialect of Chinese) that rules the roost in the foreign language category in German schools. There are 120 schools and 40 universities in Germany that teach Chinese. Spanish is also becoming increasingly popular in the country, along with English and French. Renowned German scholar Marko Demantowsky, who teaches at the University of Applied Sciences of Northwestern, Switzerland, admits, "I do not know a single school in Germany teaching Hindi."
Is the controversy uncalled for?
Many academicians say the controversy is uncalled mainly because both languages are part of Indo-European family and have so much in common. Prof Vibha Surana, head of the German department at Mumbai University says, "I am not against Sanskrit but I feel schools must give students the choice of foreign language. Learning a language in childhood is much easier." She says there are plenty of opportunities for in IT firms and joint venture industries for those who do BA and MA courses.
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