<div dir="ltr"><h1><br></h1><h1>Four-fold rise in Kendriya Vidyalaya students opting for German despite downgrade</h1>
<h2 class="gmail-synopsis">The Board of
Governors of the KVS, headed by Irani, had in a meeting on October 27,
2014, decided to discontinue the teaching of German language as an
option to Sanskrit.</h2>
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<div class="editor" id="gmail-storycenterbyline"> Written by <a href="http://indianexpress.com/profile/author/anil-sasi/" class="gmail-bulletProj" id="gmail-written_by1">Anil Sasi</a>
| New Delhi |
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Published:May 23, 2017 5:43 am</span>
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According to the three-language policy of 1968, KVs offer the official
language of the state in which they are located as a third language,
English and Hindi being the first and second languages.
(Representational photo)</span>
<p>A YEAR after it was pushed out as the third language in Kendriya
Vidyalaya (KV) schools, German has seen a remarkable revival as an
additional option, figures obtained by <em>The Indian Express</em> show.</p>
<p>The number of students opting to choose German as their international
language has seen a four-fold rise in 2016-17 after having registered a
sharp drop the previous year in the wake of the HRD Ministry’s decision
in 2014 to remove it as a “third language” from the curriculum of KVs.</p>
<p>Following the Ministry’s decision, the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan,
which runs 500 central schools across the country, decided to offer
German as a “foreign language” instead of third language from the
2015-16 session.</p>
<p>In the first year after transition, the number of students who
studied German dipped by nearly a fifth from 50,978 in 2014-15 to 11,225
in 2015-16, the lowest since the language was introduced in KVs five
years ago. But then, the language made a sharp comeback last fiscal to
touch 42,918 enrollments in 2016-17.</p>
<p>According to the three-language policy of 1968, KVs offer the
official language of the state in which they are located as a third
language, English and Hindi being the first and second languages.</p>
<p>In Hindi-speaking states, Sanskrit is offered as a third language.
German was initially introduced in central schools in fiscal 2012-13
after a memorandum of understanding between the KVS and the Goethe
Institute on September 23, 2011. At the time, German was offered as one
of the third languages from classes VI to VIII.</p>
<p>However, the MoU, which was valid for a period of three years, was not renewed by the HRD ministry under the then minister <a href="http://indianexpress.com/about/smriti-irani">Smriti Irani</a>
on the grounds that “some of the provisions of the MoU were not
consistent with the provisions of the National Policy on Education
(NPE), 1968, as well as the provisions of the National Curriculum
Framework, 2005 relating to three language formula”.</p>
<p>The Board of Governors of the KVS, headed by Irani, had in a meeting
on October 27, 2014, decided to discontinue the teaching of German
language as an option to Sanskrit.</p>
<p>Even as Germany raised the issue with the Centre at various levels,
the parents of affected students approached the courts for relief. In
December 2014, the Supreme Court accepted the proposal mooted by the
Centre that KV students of class VI-VIII will not have to take
examinations for Sanskrit in that academic session and be allowed to
continue with German as an optional subject.</p>
<p>The bench also asked the KVS to ensure that students, who wanted to
pursue German or any other language as optional subjects, be provided
with all facilities.</p>
<p>In November 2015, the Union Cabinet gave its nod to the proposal of
including German in KVs as an additional subject. The Cabinet granted
“ex-post approval” to the ‘Joint Declaration of Intent’ for the
promotion of German as an additional foreign language in KVs in
conformity with the NPE and the promotion of teaching modern Indian
languages in Germany.</p>
<p>“Currently, German is being offered as an additional foreign language
in the Kendriya Vidyalayas, which is not in violation of the National
Policy on Education. The extant provisions of the policy stipulates that
special emphasis needs to be laid on the study of English and other
international languages,” said a government official involved in the
exercise.</p><p><br></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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