The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre to consider withdrawing its decision to replace German language with Sanskrit as third language for Kendriya Vidyalayas, saying that doing so midstream would amount to violation of human rights of children. The court went to the extent of pointing out that the Ministry of Human Resource Development’s decision to replace German with Sanskrit would not meet the constitutional test.
The Bench of Justices AR Dave and Kurian Joseph gave the Centre time till Friday to consider deferring the decision till the next academic session.
Over 70,000 students across 500 Kendriya Vidyalayas were affected by the HRD Ministry’s sudden decision to withdraw German as third language for Classes VI to VIII. With three-fourth of the subject already taught and examinations around the corner, students were in for a shock when they were told to switch to Sanskrit.
Hearing a petition by an aggrieved parent, VS Ramanathan, the Bench said, “They have studied German for eight months. let Sanskrit be made optional for this year. Otherwise the student’s third language will be assessed in a mode that he has not studied.”
The petitioner through lawyer Reena Singh questioned the Centre’s hurry to introduce Sanskrit at the fag end of academic year.
Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi came to the defence of the Centre by pointing out that Sanskrit was the third language till 2011 when German substituted it under a Memorandum of Understanding signed with Germany for three years. This expired in September this year following which the Centre reverted to the previous position. The students who are mid-stream will be assessed on basic Sanskrit language for the March 2015 examinations, Rohatgi said.
The bench wondered why a MoU was needed to pursue with German. “For learning English we do not have MoU with England,” the Court said, indicating to AG that the Centre must think from the point of view of parents and not “punish” children for no fault of theirs. The AG voiced concern that any exception for German would amount to continuing an illegality.
The bench was all for teaching Sanskrit as it is the “mother language” of many Indian languages. But it faulted the Centre on the manner of its introduction. “But as far as introducing it as third language in the third term of the year is concerned, it will be a violation of human rights of children… It will be like a punishment on the child,” it observed.
The AG sought time to seek instructions on permitting children of Class VI-VIII to continue with German without “tinkering” it this year.