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<h1 class="">German language row could have been handled differently: German ambassador Steiner</h1>
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Thursday, 25 June 2015 - 11:02pm IST
| Place: New Delhi | Agency: PTI </div>
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Showing faith in India's future, the ambassador said the real power of India lies in its people. </div>
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<img src="http://static.dnaindia.com/sites/default/files/2015/06/26/349888-michael-steinertwitter.jpeg" alt="" height="400" width="400">
Michael Steiner
<em>Image Courtesy: Twitter</em>
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<p>German ambassador <a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/topic/michael-steiner">Michael Steiner</a> was on Thursday of the view that the language row with HRD Ministry could have been avoided and handled slightly differently.</p>
<p> Steiner, who would be leaving India next week after ending his
tenure as ambassador to New Delhi, said "this is one issue that could
have been avoided. It could have been handled slightly differently." The
ambassador was addressing a small gathering at his residence where a
recipe book authored by his wife was launched.</p>
<p> He hoped that the <a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/topic/german">German</a>
language issue "will be back on track in interest of the kids who want
to learn the language" beyond the Indian ones. Showing faith in India's
future, he said the real power of India lies in its people.</p><p> "The superpower is women. The biggest task India has is to unleash
its potential," he said. Steiner said the "cocoon of patriarchism needs
to be lifted". The HRD Ministry had last year decided to drop the German
language in favour of <a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/topic/sanskrit">Sanskrit</a> for over 70,000 students across 500 <a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/topic/kendriya-vidyalayas">Kendriya Vidyalayas</a>
from classes VI to VIII. India follows a three-language policy with 22
scheduled languages, 125 constitutionally recognised languages and 1600
dialects. </p>
<p><strong>Also Read:<a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-india-germany-to-encourage-teaching-of-each-other-s-languages-2077639"> India, Germany to encourage teaching of each other's languages</a></strong></p><p><strong><a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-india-germany-to-encourage-teaching-of-each-other-s-languages-2077639">http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-german-language-row-could-have-been-handled-differently-german-ambassador-steiner-2098930<br></a></strong></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>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)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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