German envoy's strong pitch against government decision raises eyebrows

NEW DELHI: German Ambassador Michael Steiner's lobbying against government decision to scrap German as third language in about 500 Kendriya Vidyalayas is being frowned upon by the government which sees it as incompatible with an envoy's role.

After German was replaced with Sanskrit as the third language in central government-run Kendriya Vidyalayas, the envoy's activities which include reaching out to Sanskrit Shikshak Sangh and holding meetings of stakeholders in private schools here on the issue are being seen as "uncalled for".

It is also seen that his strong pitch for resolution of the issue of teaching German as third language in KVs across India is against the "national policy" on three language formula for Centre-run schools.

Steiner, after the meeting, tweeted, "Sanskrit Shikshak Sangh supported my idea to organise, early 2015, conference on Indo-Germanic language family" and he had "in-depth exchange with...Sangh leaders on Sanskrit and German in very friendly atmosphere".

After the meeting, Sangh officials said they explained to the German side that the agreement signed between India and Germany for teaching German as a third language in KVs was in violation of both National Education Policy as well as three-language formula.

However, it is believed that despite the concerted efforts by the German envoy, there will not be any rethink on the decision of replacing German but the students wanting to study the foreign language can still do so as an "additional" subject as government has decided to continue with services of teachers hired for teaching it.

The Human Resources Development Ministry had last week decided to replace German with Sanskrit as the third language in the KVs, noting that the existing arrangement was against the three-language formula and "violated" the national policy on education.