Furthering the controversy over teaching Sanskrit in the schools of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, a group of renowned research scholars from Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Shri lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha and Sanskrit Shikshak Sangh came together on Thursday to highlight the importance of making the language a part of the Indian educational system.
According to them, the issue was never about removing German as the third language but about maintaining the third language a ‘modern Indian language’. “It only makes sense to have Sanskrit there in place of German because Sanskrit is the root of all Indian languages whereas German has no connection to Indian languages,” said Dr Ramesh Bhardwaj, Head of Sanskrit Department in DU.
These research scholars have also formed a forum called the Sanskrit Shodh Parishad, which will now look at furthering the movement to ensure the regeneration of Sanskrit in India. The research scholars feel that Sanskrit is not only a subject that needs to be taught in middle school, but actually a language which needs to be taught right up to high school.
Bhardwaj said, “Sanskrit is a discipline, which helps people to understand other Indian languages better. People ask why there are no jobs for Sanskrit students. It is because Sanskrit is only taught from Class VI to VIII. Sanskrit should be taught right up to higher schooling so that every student has a good understanding of the Indian language they speak in. If Sanskrit is not taught, Indian roots are being removed.”
The main question raised by the members of the forum was that when foreign languages are being taught to students from Class VI to XII, then why are Indian languages taught only for three years. “Even every budding scientist at Indian Institute of Sciences studies Sanskrit so that their intellectual knowledge and understanding improves. The entire history of India is in Sanskrit. It is not a money making language but a man making one,” said Bhardwaj.
A professor at St Stephen’s College Atul Mathur said that there should be a new kind of methodology introduced to make Sanskrit interdisciplinary and also upgraded in ways to support research of all kinds. “The Government has always looked at Sanskrit in political terms. It actually needs to be looked at as a language which hones other languages. The matter is not of getting jobs, it’s about improving the education system. Why is only the lower class associated with studying SanskritIJ It is because the mentality has become such. It needs to change,” he said.
The forum will now be looking at ways in which they can propagate their movement to eventually make Sanskrit grow in India.