Opposing the exclusion of foreign language in the UPSC Civil Services Examination, Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) held a demonstration outside UPSC on Thursday.
With banners and slogans seeking restoration of foreign languages in the list of optional subjects of Civil Services exam, around 300 students and teachers of JNU demanded that either English be excluded from the syllabus or foreign languages be included back in the Civil Services exams as an optional subject.
Staging a protest outside the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) office, the students and teachers of JNU were joined by several universities, including Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia.
“The UPSC’s decision of excluding languages such as Arabic, Persian, German, Spanish and Russian from its entrance exam is downright discriminatory. The same Government which is speaking of globalisation is excluding these languages, which are being taught in the UG/PG/Research level in several universities across the country,” said Akbar Chawdhary, president of JNUSU.
The students demanded that authorities either remove English or include other foreign languages back to the UPSC examination syllabi.