JOIN USForeign lingo may go in CBSE schools
Private schools offering CBSE syllabus may not be able to teach foreign language as third language very soon.
In a circular, the CBSE has asked students to spell out their third language preference following a five-decade-old government formula that prescribes learning any of the 22 scheduled Indian languages, besides English and mother tongue from Class VI to VIII.
Though the circular is only about registering students’ preference, it may eventually take away their option of learning a foreign language like German, French or Mandarin as third language, as is taught in many private schools.
The CBSE, in its August 20 circular, made it mandatory for schools to register the students’ mother tongue and obtain their preference under the three language formula.
“Include the column for eliciting information on the mother tongue of the child in the application form for admission and record in the admission and withdrawal register. And obtain information (from students) relating to the preference of the languages for study under the three language formula,” CBSE’s controller of examination K K Choudhary has directed the schools.
Many teachers and principals found it a way to stop teaching foreign languages in private schools. “There is no clarity in the circular, but the intention is apparent. It is another way of making schools stop teaching foreign languages as the third language by asking students to register their preference under the three-language formula,” principal of a Delhi-based school told Deccan Herald.
Choudhary did not respond to the phone calls made to seek his comments.
According to the three language formula prescribed in the National Education Policy, 1968, students should be taught their mother tongue, English and any of the 22 scheduled Indian languages.
“When the three language formula is being implemented in government schools, why private schools should not be made to implement it? The three language formula has been prescribed by a national policy. There cannot be separate policies for private schools and government schools,” said D K Jha, president of the Sanskrit Shikshak Sangh (SSS).
It was the SSS which had dragged the erstwhile UPA government to court over teaching of German in schools.