Days after the NDA government decided to replace German with Sanskrit as a third language in Kendriya Vidyalaya schools, the Sanskrit Shikshak Sangh (SSS) — the group that took the matter to court, eventually prompting the HRD Ministry’s decision — on Thursday said that its next move will be to make all other schools drop foreign languages as the third language.

Explained: No German please, we’re Indian

“Our next step will be to ensure all other schools — government aided, unaided, public, private — also follow our education policy and three language formula, and drop foreign languages as the third language. They have to teach Sanskrit or any modern Indian language instead. They will hopefully do it on their own now. But if not, we will write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the HRD Minister. If that does not work, we will take strong action and take the matter to court,” SSS president D K Jha told The Indian Express. He added that his organisation was not against any particular language but only wanted to ensure that schools adhered to the Indian Constitution.

The SSS, an umbrella body of Sanskrit teachers and scholars, had earlier moved the Delhi High Court alleging that the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan’s decision to introduce German as a third language in place of Sanskrit was against the education policy and the three language formula. The three language formula states that schools ought to teach Hindi, English and one modern Indian language.

On October 27, the Board of Governors of the KVS, headed by HRD Minister Smriti Irani, decided that “teaching German as an option to Sanskrit will be discontinued forthwith”. German has been kept as an additional subject/hobby class for students.

Jha said that after the NDA came to power, they had also written to the HRD Ministry seeking its intervention on the issue of Navodaya Vidyalayas teaching Urdu instead of Sanskrit. They wrote the first letter on June 6 mentioning both, the KVS and the Navodaya issues, and sent a reminder to the HRD Ministry on August 21.

He added, “Teaching the core values of Sanskrit should be made compulsory — even if for only up to 10 marks — in all courses, be it in schools or courses like engineering, MBA, etc.”

Jha claimed that the SSS had written several letters to former prime minister Manmohan Singh and the then HRD minister Kapil Sibal on the issue of KVS introducing German as a third language, but had not received any response.

Outlining the “benefits” of learning Sanskrit, Jha said, “Anybody who studies Sanskrit never commits suicide because of the values the subject inculcates in them.” Calling Sanskrit a “world language”, he added, “The main aim of all other languages is to make money. The main aim of Sanskrit is to teach people to earn fame and respect.”

Jha’s statements come a day after German Ambassador Michael Steiner, in the presence of RSS ideologue Dina Nath Batra, reached out to the Sanskrit Shikshak Sangh in a bid to resolve the issue.

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