<div><strong>Arshad Khan</strong><br><br>In a bid to strengthen Indo-Germanic ties following German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit, the central government on Tuesday (October 6) decided to reintroduce German as an additional language in Kendriya Vidyalayas. A controversy had erupted around a year ago when HRD Minister Smriti Irani had decided to scrap German in favour of Sanskrit as the third language to be taught in KVs.</div><div> </div><div>A MoU has been signed under which German will be taught in Kendriya Vidyalayas as an additional foreign language while modern Indian languages will be taught in Germany. The new understanding is an exodus for the earlier agreement inked during UPA-II reign in 2011 which proposed German as a third language across 500 KVs.<br> </div><div>The flip flop in policy (and curriculum) is sure to affect 70,000 students in KVs who were told to embrace Sanskrit over German. The latest decision is sure to confuse them as to which language to pursue or laden them with the burden of an additional subject.</div><div> </div><div>A KV student says, “I haven’t learnt much about the changes. One thing I know is that government should not interfere in our curriculum. Moreover, it has been difficult for us to be taught by the same book in three different standards.” It was decided that students of Std VI, VII and VIII will have the same syllabus in KVs.</div><div> </div><div>Another student from the same school says, “We will face difficulty if they decide to introduce German in schools immediately. Given a chance I will prefer German over Sanskrit because it will give me opportunity to work in Germany.”</div><div> </div><div>However, a teacher associated with one of the many Kendriya Vidyalayas across the country says that they will wait for a formal notification from the government before adopting any change in their curriculum.</div><div> </div><div>The new pact under which German will be taught as an additional language across all KVs and modern Indian languages will be taught in Germany is to be signed between the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) and the Max Mueller Bhavan which the government feels would be a fresh start to the teaching of German as an additional subject.</div><div> </div><div>For CBSE schools, the changes in policy will not make much difference. Most privately run 'un- aided' schools under CBSE didn't change their curriculum and continued with German as a language option.</div><div> </div><div>In fact, the largest private school chain in India also did not discontinue German after the controversy created by the HRD ministry last year. "Our school did and continues to offer German classes to students. So this flip flop in policy will not impact our students", say a high school teacher of a private CBSE school in New Delhi.</div>
