![]() ![]() ![]() This is precisely what happened under UPA to Sanskrit. Thus, if you switch languages, it apparently has to be a toggle effect, and teachers who teach X have to switch to teaching Y. The KV system, let us remember, has to be uniform all over the country: you cannot have a different curriculum in different states. And why was that? Where was the uproar when, apparently on a whim, the previous UPA government decided to replace Sanskrit in mid-stream with German? And why German? Why not Japanese, or Chinese, or Arabic or Spanish, all of which have more commercial and job opportunities for young people? What was the rationale in choosing German? That is the crux of the matter: German replaced Sanskrit in the entire KV system recently. But then it is only since 2011 that German has been made available in all Kendriya Vidyalayas, replacing Sanskrit. Others complained that this is a burden on students who have already opted for German, which is true. I used to work for Siemens in California, and not knowing German was not a big handicap in communicating with my colleagues, even when I traveled to Germany. Which is not quite true: only a fraction of the people even in Europe speak German, and almost all large German companies conduct business in English. ![]() Others have suggested that German is a global language, and therefore – they implied – Sanskrit is inferior to German. Besides, if you want to learn German, you can still opt for it: it is not banished from the KVs. People have thundered that the Sanskrit decision is preventing Indian students from aspiring to go to German universities, which is not true – most university education in Germany is conducted in the medium of English. Second, there is considerable value to Sanskrit that most of us are unaware of, especially if you look at the technical aspects of formal language theory. First, this is merely the reversal of an ill-considered and harmful – therefore typical UPA – step, dissing Indian tradition and replacing it with something European. ![]() Best to consider the forest (the desirability of Indo-German ties) over the trees (an ill-advised, illegal move by the UPA in 2011 to mess with the three-language formula, and its inevitable reversal now).įor several reasons, I find the fuss baffling. Which of course is far from the truth, and is a storm in a teacup raised by the usual malign suspects in the media. It has even prompted German Chancellor Angela Merkel to question whether their language is being disrespected in India. There is an unfortunate hoo-haa about German and Sanskrit in Kendriya Vidyalayas (KV), which is putting a negative spin on generally-positive Indo-German relations. There should be no reason to fuss even if it is imposed much less when it is merely being put back into the syllabus where it used to be.” – Rajeev Srinivasan “From several points of view, Sanskrit is not only the one candidate that deserves to be the national language – much as Israelis resurrected the once-moribund Hebrew – but it is by many measures the most perfect language ever invented: truly samskrt or civilized. ![]()
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