KVs relax norms for learning Sanskrit

Hyderabad: Kendriya Vidyalayas have decided to provide certain relaxations to students from Class VI to VIII such as postponing their formative assessments in the wake of the HRD ministry's move to replace German with Sanskrit as the third language.

• Students to be evaluated only on first-term Sanskrit syllabus of Class VI
• Grades obtained by students in German so far to be considered for overall annual assessment
• 3rd and 4th formative assessments postponed New schedule to be announced shortly

The ministry had earlier said that students could opt for any other modern Indian language for this session to reduce their burden.

In a communication, the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan has also made it clear that the third language will be taught for such students with the syllabus of the first-term of Class VI and even for those children in Class VII and VIII who had taken German as a third language.

"To further facilitate these children, the grades obtained by these students for the earlier term of learning German as a third language would be considered for finalising the compilation of results for their totals in the third language," it said.

The decision of the ministry to replace German with Sanskrit has affected close to 68,000 students between Class VI to VIII.

German will however continue to be taught as an additional subject or as a hobby class.“The third and the fourth formative assessment scheduled to start shortly will now not be held for these students and their assessment and examination schedule will be intimated subsequently,” the communication said.

Formative Assessment, introduced within the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation Framework, is a tool used by the teacher to continuously monitor student progress.

The ministry had last week decided to replace German with Sanskrit as the third language in the KVs, arguing that the existing arrangement was against the three-language formula and ‘violated’ the national policy on education.

Union HRD minister Smriti Irani had said that an investigation has already been launched into the signing of an MoU in 2011 enabling German being taught as the third language.

The KVs have also decided that teachers recruited on contractual basis for teaching German would continue as per existing terms and conditions as it was being taught as an additional subject.

Steiner reaches out to Sangh

German Ambassador Michael Steiner on Wednesday reached out to Sanskrit teachers including RSS ideologue Dina Nath Batra and decided to resolve the issue through more cultural exchanges.

A delegation of German officials, led by Steiner, held discussions with the officials of Sanskrit Shikshak Sangh, including Batra, who has recently been in the eye of a storm over his recommendations for revamping the curriculum in NCERT books.

During the meeting, the German side did not seek reconsideration of Sanskrit Sangh's opposition to German being taught as a third language in KV schools, but sought more cooperation for promotion of the two languages that shared a lot common.

Steiner said, "Sanskrit Shikshak Sangh supported my idea to organise, early 2015, conference on Indo-Germanic language family."