Is the Government right in discontinuing German language education in schools?

German Language program in Indian Schools

During his recent visit to Australia, just when Prime Minister Modi was extolling his government's efforts to attract Japanese investment in Gujarat by building Golf Courses for the Japanese business executives, his HRD Minister back home, took the 'retrograde' step of discontinuing German as the third language in Kendriya Vidyalayas.   

In a move that appears to be clearly motivated by parochial political ideologies, the government has decided to discontinue teaching German as the third language in Kendriya Vidyalayas. This has left around 68,000 students, in the middle of their academic session, in a lurch. There are different facets to this debate on Language education in the country.  Lets explore them one at a time.  

First and foremost is the timing of the government's decision. Is the government blind to the fact that these students are in the middle of an academic session? Discontinuing a subject, that some have been studying for over 2 years, only shows the government's non-serious attitude towards education in the country. I have personally been a student of French and realize the amount of time and effort that goes into familiarizing oneself with a new language. Such whimsical policies towards education will not only discourage students to study off-the-beat subjects like German but will also leave them confused about their academic future. In times when HRD ministry has done away with 10th standard board exams, purported to unburden students of so called exam-stress, they have failed to realize the stress that studying a new language like Sanskrit just five months before exams will induce in students! The government's order is absolutely deplorable. To preserve whatever shred of sanctity that the Indian education system has, it must be revoked immediately.

Now, let us turn an eye to the nature of the decision. In today's globalizing world, knowledge of a foreign language opens new doors to education, business, and culture. Germany as a nation provides vast amount of opportunities for quality education in engineering, sciences, law and liberal arts among others. A large number of Indian students travel to Germany each year to pursue such goals; will it not benefit them to have a basic understanding of German? Studying a language at a later age is not the easiest of tasks, if a student develops a basic understanding in it at early age, such a skill will greatly aid his/her future studies. 

In the eye of the storm - HRD Minister Smriti Irani

The Prime Minister has been trying to build a business friendly environment in the country to attract foreign investors. The most publicized of his initiatives, has been that of the construction of Golf Courses in Gujarat, to provide a conducive environment for Golf-loving Japanese executives to work. Germany is India's largest trading partner in Europe and happens to be the eighth largest foreign investor in India. Will the knowledge of German not aid such a partnership? I personally believe it will. I interned at a German Multinational in India and found that most of the Indian employees at the company were learning or planning to learn German language. It gives them an opportunity to interact freely with their counterparts in Germany and provides a chance for upward mobility in the company hierarchy. Therefore, is it right for us to deprive our students of an education that provides them an opportunity for growth?

Finally, is the question of promoting Indian languages? I am by no means against promoting Indian languages, but there is a caveat, we must encourage languages that are a means to an end - a means to economic development, a means to social mobility, or a means to national unity. In my personal experience, most students take Sanskrit as their third language because it allows scoring high marks in exams. That apart, what are the practical gains from learning Sanskrit? Yes, most of our texts are in Sanskrit, as my Grandfather argued, but aren't Hindi or English translations available for them? I concede that it has a lot of literary value for linguists, historians and maybe hagiographers, but from a strictly non-academic point of view, study of Sanskrit serves no purpose. Instead, if we were to encourage Indian languages, we must study languages like Tamil, Kannada, Marathi or Bengali that are functional and used by a vast population of the country. But is that the case? No, schools rarely offer these languages. In that light, Sanskrit seems to have become a  masquerade for mindless nationalist rhetoric. 

If the so-called 'Rashtravadis' are to find a voice against the 'Sickular Libtards' (the much abused Secular Liberals) then it has to be one of reason. How long can we allow Education in this country to be pimped by parochial politics?

Do share your views..