NEW DELHI: Giving a push for promotion of Sanskrit at the higher secondary level in Kendriya Vidyalayas (KV) and to ensure sufficient availability of teachers to impart the language, the KV management has decided to create a panel of post graduate Sanskrit teachers. The directive comes after finding that only a few students, from the Bengaluru and Ernakulum regions, opted for Sanskrit in the 2015-16 academic session due to lack of teachers.
Communications have also been sent to KVs to take adequate measures to create awareness among students regarding the steps initiated for teaching the subject in Class XI so that ‘apprehensions arising from non-availability of Sanskrit teachers are laid to rest’ and students are ‘motivated’ for Sanskrit at the plus two level.
The KVs, where Sanskrit is taught at plus two levels, have been told to conduct interviews of teachers on contractual basis. The government had in December 2014, decided to offer Sanskrit (core) as one of the languages in class XI from the next session; but availability of teachers remained a big impediment.
The latest directive comes against the backdrop of a panel making a series of recommendations for promotion and popularising Sanskrit, including the strict enforcement of the three language formula, which calls for teaching of Hindi and English along with a modern Indian language. The committee was set up following the government’s decision to replace German with Sanskrit as the third language in KVs, a decision which had triggered a row in 2014. “Not studying Sanskrit at higher secondary level impacting the number of students at the under graduate and post graduate level,” recommended the 13-member committee headed by chancellor of Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Tiruparti N Gopalaswami, in its report presented last month.
The committee also suggested that the government implement the three language formula in letter and spirit in schools, encourage teaching of Sanskrit in Sanskrit, make digitised Sanskrit manuscripts, and encourage collaborative research between Sanskrit and other subjects.
It recommended that Sanskrit may be offered in higher secondary schools for students of various combinations like Arts, Commerce and Science etc. Further, science students are to be encouraged to opt for the subject, so that they can appreciate the language and involve themselves in research activity later. “Though most of the states offer Sanskrit at classes XI and XII for arts students, a very few states offer the subject in Science and Commerce. Even if it is there in the scheme of studies, it is only in the papers as teachers are not provided,” it observed.