German versus Sanskrit
People may
think that foreign language can be your passport to success but the HRD minister
Smrithi Irani thinks differently. That is why she has taken a different decision.
HRD minister, Smrithi Irani
has relegated the German language in Kendriya Vidyalayas making Sanskrit the
third language option. Her decision has not only been controversial but also
been mootable.
The
HRD minister on Friday strongly defended the decision. She says that the
arrangement of German language was in violation of the three language formula,
more over it is against education policy. According to the HRD minister German
can be continued as an additional subject of hobby class
Critics say that the HRD ministry taking such a decision barely
when the exams are three months away effects the students; about 68,000
students of class VI to VIII, likely to be affected by the decision. The
minister said "an investigation" has already been launched into the
signing of MoU in 2011 enabling German being taught as the third language which
was a violation of national policy of education. Ministry officials said that an MoU
signed between KVS and Goethe Institute-Max Mueller Bhawan in 2011 was not even
known to the Ministry. We must
safeguard the constitutional rights," she told reporters while clarifying
the ministry's stand on the issue.
The board of governors (BoG) of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS), headed
by Smrithi Irani, had in its meeting on October 27 decided that German language
as an option to Sanskrit will be discontinued. The Sanskrit Shikshak Sangh had earlier approached Delhi high court alleging
that KVS had introduced German as a third language in place of Sanskrit against
the education policy.
The episode of replacing
German with Sanskrit leads to several interpretation and raises several
questions. Is it the intention of the Government to promote Sanskrit or remove
foreign languages? If it is for the promotion of Sanskrit? is it limited to Kendriya vidyalas? Let us
consider the State of Andhrapradesh where Sanskrit has been mocked squarely. At
intermediate level many students choose Sanskrit as a second language only for
scoring more marks. These students can take the Sanskrit exam in Hindi or
Telugu or English. They don’t need to write Sanskrit in Sanskrit exam. Anyway
they don’t use Sanskrit in real life for communication or for further studies.
Sanskrit the once Lingua
franca in ancient India gradually withered out due to English influence. Today
it is seen as a language listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India.
If we want to restore the glow and glory of Sanskrit the best and the most
effective way is make its use practical in media by replacing the superfluous
and complex English words. In china they
discourage use of English words. The advertisements appear in only Chinese
language. The advertisers cannot use a single English word. The next step is to
think, what the students can do with Sanskrit. As such Sanskrit is a language
of ceremonies and rituals. It is the professional language of priests who chant
hymns and mantras in Sanskrit. Even
those priests now-a-days send their children to English medium schools. Where
is Sanskrit practically used? Mattur is the only place in Shimoga district in
Karnataka where Sanskrit is used for day-to-day communication. Even a barber
can speak Sanskrit there. But what avail when we cannot make it to the educated
people?
Can we canalize our education in Sanskrit is the million dollar
question. Only with people communicating in a language the language may exist
but can not flourish. For that matter, people are communicating in many
regional languages such as Telugu, Kannada, Tamil but they don’t study in these
languages. People want to study not their mother tongue. They want to study in
world’s dominant language of science and technology, trade and commerce. So our ultimate objective should be to make
Sanskrit popular internationally.
After all the value of a
language depends not only how many people speak. It also depends on how widely
it is spoken (in how many countries), what are the opportunities for education
and business, what is the research material accessible in that language.
Venkat Poolabala
