The SC's suggestion that German remain the third language for Classes VI to VIII this year may come as a relief for 65,000-odd KVS students who are being pushed to study Sanskrit anew almost at term-end. A TOI-IPSOS eight-city survey of students and parents on whether they would prefer a foreign language or an Indian one shows a clear preference for German, French and other foreign tongues driven largely by career-oriented thinking in a fast globalizing world

Among those who said they would rather study an Indian language, a majority picked Sanskrit though a significant minority preferred a regional language other than the mother tongue. However, for a majority this was due to Sanskrit being seen as very high scoring.

The government's three-language formula for schools mandates that the third language should be an Indian language and Kendriya Vidyalayas that had taken the initiative to introduce foreign languages like German as the third language have been categorically told they can't do so.But what do students and their parents think about this? TOI commissioned a survey in India's eight biggest cities to know their mind and found that a majority would prefer to study a foreign language and that even among those who prefer Sanskrit as the third language, most do so because they see it as high scoring - a factor that weighs heavily in a system that encourages an obsession with examinations and marks.The study found that 59% of students in Classes VI to VIII and 54% of parents of such children would prefer a foreign language as the third language. There were, however, significant variations across cities. At one extreme, in Chennai every student said he or she would prefer a foreign language. At the other, 82% of students in Ahmedabad wanted an Indian language.The preference for foreign languages was highest in Class VIII and lowest in Class VI. Students in ICSE schools were more strongly inclined to pick a foreign language, but there was not much difference on the question between boys and girls or between students from different socio-economic strata. Responses from parents exhibited similar patterns.Why the preference for a foreign language? Allowed multiple answers, almost three-quarters said it was good for their career, 61% said it would be interesting, 55% said they would be able to learn new things and 37% said it would help if they had to go abroad for studies or work. Once again the top reasons given by parents were quite similar to those given by students.French and German emerged as the two most preferred foreign languages with Japanese a distant third and Spanish and Mandarin even rarer choices. The patterns were similar among students and parents, though French was more strongly favoured by parents.Among the reasons for picking a specific foreign language, career prospects, interest and the possibility of having to go to a country where that language was spoken were among the top ones with both students and parents, but the peer group too played a significant role among the students.What the survey shows is that current government policy on the three-language formula lags behind the aspirations of metropolitan India, and perhaps other sections too, in a fast globalising world. Perhaps it is time it was changed.The study was conducted by Ipsos, one of the global leaders in market research. It polled 400 students and 400 parents in a purposive sample. The fieldwork was done on November 25 and 26 in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune.