In what could compel the drafting committee of the new education policy to take a stand in favour of teaching foreign languages in schools, 11 states and Union Territories (UTs) have come out in support of students learning French, German and Mandarin, among others, for better employment opportunities.

Over the last month, The Indian Express reviewed the feedback of 17 states and UTs to the HRD Ministry on what they would like to see in the new education policy. One question, under the head of “Promotion of Languages”, sought views on teaching foreign languages in schools. Answering this, governments of Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Mizoram, Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar and Chandigarh supported the idea. The states, however, hold diverse views on when students should start learning a foreign dialect. While governments of Delhi and Mizoram want it introduced in Class XI, Chandigarh and Uttarakhand want to offer it as a subject from Class IX.

“The learning of English as second language in Classes I to X, Hindi as third language in classes VI to VIII and option to learn a foreign language as second language in Classes IX and X and as extracurricular activity in Classes XI and XII will better prepare the students for the economic world,” Karnataka government said in its response.

Irrespective of the above differences, the overall support of 11 out of 17 states on offering foreign languages in schools is significant in the context of the Kendriya Vidyalayas replacing German as the third language with Sanskrit in October, 2014. German is now taught as an additional subject/hobby class. HRD Minister Smriti Irani had cited the three-language formula and the Constitution in defence of the decision. According to this formula, schools should teach Hindi, English and one modern Indian language (preferably one of the southern languages) in Hindi-speaking states and Hindi, English and the regional language in non-Hindi speaking states. Introduced in 1968, this formula was reiterated in the 1986 education policy, as well as in 1992. It is silent on foreign languages.

Teaching foreign languages is now one of the key discussion points for the new education policy. Apart from that, 10 states and UTs (Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Haryana, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Chandigarh, Andhra, Mizoram and Andaman & Nicobar) want the Right to Education Act (RTE) to cover education up to Class X, at least, to increase access to secondary schooling. The law currently extends up to Class VIII. But 14 states/UTs (Mizoram, Uttarakhand, Chattisgarh, J&K, Telangana, Odisha, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Delhi, Assam, Chandigarh, Andaman & Nicobar and Daman & Diu) are opposed to RTE’s no-fail policy.

Thirteen states and UTs — Mizoram, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Karnataka, Chandigarh, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Assam, Andaman and Nicobar and Daman & Diu — have demanded a school quality assessment and accreditation system.

All states and UTs, except Puducherry, are in favour of a compulsory aptitude test in schools. To identify skill a student is interested in, 17 states — Mizoram, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, J&K, Telangana, Odisha, Karnataka, Andhra, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Delhi, Assam, Chandigarh, Puducherry, Andaman and Daman & Diu — have backed counselling at schools.

While seven states (Gujarat, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Punajb, Delhi, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand) have recommended regular practice of yoga in schools, 14 states and UTs (J&K, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Karnataka, Chandigarh, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Puducherry and Andaman) want good ethics and values to be taught in schools.

Meanwhile, HRD Ministry spokesperson Ghanshyam Goel did not respond to the questions sent by The Indian Express seeking response on whether the above points will figure in the final draft of the education policy. Former cabinet secretary T S R Subramanian, who heads the drafting committee, said, “We are considering a gamut of issues including ones you have mentioned. I don’t want to get into the specifics and would request you to wait for the education policy.”

The final draft of the policy will be submitted to the ministry by February 29.

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