Schools assail HRD ministry's move on German language

NEW DELHI: The decision of the HRD ministry to not allow German as the third language in Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) has not gone down well with public schools. Many experts feel that though the government's move is constitutionally valid, the problem lies in the non-implementation of the 'three-language policy' in its right spirit for all these years.

While in this instance, a problematic MoU with the Goethe Institute has been cited to get rid of German as the third language, HRD officials said: "If similar principle of having only Indian languages as third language is put in practice, all Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) affiliated schools will face the problem." Sources also said that while deciding not to renew the MoU and claiming only Indian languages can be taught, government did not foresee its implications on schools outside the KV system.

Putting the issue into perspective, Padma shri Anvita Abbi, president, Linguistic Society of India said the problem is that the "three-language formula" has failed in India as every state follows whichever system suits them.

Abbi, a former linguistics professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University said: "As per the "three-language formula", in non-Hindi states, languages to be offered are Hindi, one of the languages in the eighth schedule, and English or 'any modern European language'. So German should have been introduced dropping English instead. In Hindi states, it should be Hindi, a modern Indian language especially from South India and English or any European language. The non-Hindi states instead drop Hindi and in Hindi states they teach Sanskrit."

Schools feel that students should be allowed to have their choice. According to Ameeta Mulla Wattal, principal, Springdales, Pusa Road, "The three-language formula has been an integral part of education. It will be a dichotomy that on one level our PM is travelling around the world, building up image of India as a global force and reaching out to the world and on the other hand we are railing against foreign languages. Students must have choices of all the languages — foreign and regional."