[lg policy] India: Make Sanskrit or any classical language mandatory in schools, says RSS

[Harold Schiffman]

Make Sanskrit or any classical language mandatory in schools, says RSS

  *New Delhi:* An RSS-affiliated body has suggested changes in education
policy to make studying Sanskrit or other classical languages like Arabic,
Persian, Latin or Greek mandatory in schools for at least four years.

In a draft suggesting policy changes in education sector, 'Bhartiya
Shikshan Mandal' has proposed a language policy as per which during first
eight years of general education, mother tongue will be the first language
while Hindi, Sanskrit, other national languages or English can be chosen as
a second language.
 An RSS-affiliated body has suggested changes in education policy to make
studying Sanskrit or other classical languages like Arabic, Persian, Latin
or Greek mandatory in schools.
 #Bharti Shikshan Mandal
<http://www.ibnlive.com/newstopics/bharti-shikshan-mandal.html> #rss
<http://www.ibnlive.com/newstopics/rss.html> #sanskrit
<http://www.ibnlive.com/newstopics/sanskrit.html>

The Sangh body, which is working in the field of education, has sought
feedback from the public on its draft.

As per the document titled 'Bhartiya Education Outline', if a student
doesn't want to learn English or any other language, he should be allowed
to do so.

However, in the next four years of education, as envisaged in the Bharti
Shikshan Mandal's draft, "a student will be provided with a choice to
complete his studies without learning English or Hindi, but it will be
mandatory for him to learn Sanskrit or any other classical language."

Stating that this was essential from the socio-cultural perspective, the
draft added that a student who does not wish to learn Sanskrit, may opt for
Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Latin, Greek, or any other language.

"Hindi is not mandatory under this policy, however there are two languages,
mother tongue and Sanskrit or a classical language, which will be mandatory
for the student. The perspective behind this decision is that if everyone
accepts Hindi to be the language of communication, no one will leave it
out. The subject that are neglected by students because they do not aid in
employment, should be made compulsory," the draft document said.

While interacting with reporters in New Delhi, the outfit's Joint
Organising Secretary Mukul Kanitkar said students often are quick to learn
languages of commercial use.

"The policy is based on the belief that a treasure trove of knowledge and
values is present in our classical languages and it is very crucial for a
healthy social life," the draft says, adding it aims at strengthening the
"emotional integration in our national life".

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/politics/make-sanskrit-or-any-classical-language-mandatory-in-schools-says-rss-1017787.html


-- 
**************************************
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its
members
and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or
sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who
disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write
directly to the original sender of any offensive message.  A copy of this
may be forwarded to this list as well.  (H. Schiffman, Moderator)

For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to
https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/
listinfo/lgpolicy-list
*******************************************
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lgpolicy-list/attachments/20150709/22da9d9c/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list