Rajasthan may make Sanskrit compulsory in schools

JAIPUR: Rajasthan education department may make Sanskrit a compulsory third language from Class IV to Class X in state board schools to ensure that students have access to "ancient wisdom regarding Bharat Varsha". The decision will be implemented in both government and private schools.

Currently, students have the option to choose their third language from Sanskrit Punjabi, Gujarati, Urdu, Sindhi and Bengali.

State education minister Vasudev Devnani said, "The department is chalking out feasibility of making the ancient language compulsory in schools. Soon a detailed proposal will be shared with chief minister Vasundhara Raje and HRD minister Prakash Javdekar." He added that the department will focus on developing a curriculum, structure and teaching pedagogy and make the subject more "job-oriented."


The decision will impact 13,983 secondary and senior secondary government schools and 20,744 upper primary schools. It will apply to 16,239 upper primary and 14,227 senior secondary private schools.

The department had recently announced 13,500 teaching positions that included recruitment of 5,000 Sanskrit teachers.

"It will make sure that every senior secondary school has at least one Sanskrit teacher. It will create an ecosystem for the creating scholars in Sanskrit," said Devnani.

When asked if CBSE schools will come under the ambit of compulsory Sanskrit education, the minister said that nothing has been confirmed as yet.