The Supreme Court has sought an explanation from the Centre over its decision to drop German as the third language in Kendriya Vidyalayas and replace it with Sanskrit.
Giving a week’s time to the Ministry of Human Resource Development to explain its decision, the Bench headed by Justice AR Dave posted a petition filed by parents of Kendriya Vidyalaya students on November 28.
The parents were upset by the HRD Ministry’s move to replace German with Sanskrit mid-session, although the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) decided to provide certain relaxations like grace marks to students from Class VI to VIII.
The HRD Ministry had earlier said that students could opt for any other modern Indian language for this session to help them reduce their burden. The Government has now said the students wanting to study German language can still do so as an “additional” subject and has decided to continue with services of teachers hired for teaching it.
An order issued in this regard stated that the grades obtained by students of Class VI to VIII in German as third language so far would be considered in compilation of the overall annual assessment of the third language. The decision of the ministry to replace German with Sanskrit has affected close to 68,000 students between Class VI and VIII.
A KV circular issued earlier said, “To facilitate the children to learn the third language, it has been decided that this third language will be taught for such children with the syllabus of the first term of Class VI, even for those children in Class VII or VIII who had taken German as the third language, so that the teaching learning starts for them right from the beginning and no stress is caused to them.”
Earlier, the Ministry had decided to replace German with Sanskrit as the third language in the KVs, arguing that the existing arrangement was against the three-language formula and “violated” the national policy on education.