Sanskrit creates fear now

Hyderabad: Sanskrit, which was once a very popular choice among Intermediate students, is now sending jitters down their spine.

Earlier, students used to score 95 to 99 per cent in Sanskrit, but now they are struggling for pass marks. The reason is that the Board has made it mandatory for Sanskrit students to write answers only in the Sanskrit (Devnagari) script from this year. Earlier, they were allowed to write in English or Telugu script.

Sanskrit was popular as a second language as it was easy to score marks. Many students used to score 95-99 per cent as they were allowed to answer in either English or Telugu script. The government changed this rule to encourage students to take Telugu as the second language.

Students urged the Inter Board to implement the new norms in a phased manner and the Board relaxed norms for the final exams in March 2014.

“First year students can answer questions for 20 marks in the script of their medium of instruction if they want to. These are essay questions. Each question carries six marks. However, for the first question, only three marks will be given for essay type answer, which they can write in their medium of instruction script.

The fill-in-the-blank questions for the remaining three marks must be answered only in Sanskrit (Devnagari) script,” said Dr P. Madhusudhan Reddy, the general secretary of AP Government Junior Lecturers’ Association.

The rule to answer questions in Devnagari script is expected to result in a steep fall in enrolment.