No loony ideas, please

At first sight, German seems a formidable language to study. And it is, like any foreign language. But there is a remarkable logic and simplicity to it, which is not to be found in say, French or English. For one thing, the pronunciation is far more logical than the other two — what you see is what you say. In English, P-U-T is pronounced differently from B-U-T; in German, this will not happen. French pronunciation, of course, can drive one round the bend. Grammatical rules too are fairly rigid, with the verb always in the second place.

And German words are usually a combination of two separate words, retaining the meanings of both — in other words, a literal combination. Makes life much simpler for those who are ready to put in the time and effort to study, as I tried to do some years ago. The effort is very rewarding, since this reveals up some of the most beautiful and evocative words, such as Schadenfreude, i.e. gloating at someone else’s misery.

Schadenfreude is not what is one feeling for the nearly 70,000 odd children — and their parents — studying in Kendriya Vidyalaya schools all over the country. They have been left in the lurch, thanks to a short-sighted and arbitrary decision of the human resources ministry to do away with German in those schools and replace it with Sanskrit. The HRD minister Smriti Irani did not wait to recommend this from the next academic year, when the parents could have some time to prepare for it — this government believes in decisive, swift action, not in boring and long-winded committees and their recommendations. No sir, this had to be done now and immediately, never mind how it would affect thousands of kids.

As is this government’s wont, neither the minister nor anyone else bothered to explain the rationale of this step or the manner in which it will be executed. Which leaves room for speculation — is it to please Sanskrit lobbyists, who are now becoming more vocal, saying things like “Those who do not know Sanskrit are not true Indians?” Is this part of the campaign — whose contours are now visible — of changing the country’s education system, bringing in more “Indian values” and greater nationalism? Is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh advising Ms Irani about what she should do? We can only guess.

Some hints are available — Ms Irani, known for being a voluble and stout defender of the BJP and Narendra Modi during pre-election debates on television, where she used to wag her finger at the other panelists, has gone rather silent. But has said that countries which teach in their mother tongues have higher GDP. Really? Is there hard data to prove that?

Yes, she said, she had read some study by some MNC software company. This sounds quite similar to what the proponents of Sanskrit say. What no one tells us is how learning German obstructs national growth or indeed child development. Even if one disregards the joys of studying a new language — at school kids are more focused on grades rather than esoteric pleasures of a new vocabulary — knowledge of German can only add to a child’s employment potential, giving her many more opportunities in life. Sanskrit is a remarkable language too, the root of a whole range of languages, and its study should be encouraged; the problem arises when it is equated with the idea of being Indian and when it is imposed on children by executive fiat.

Ms Irani will surely know that it took many years to fine-tune the language teaching formula in schools — the states and the Centre both worked closely to reach a compromise that would ensure fairness to both students and to languages and despite some inherent problems, it has worked well. The states have most control over what is taught in their regional schools and they are not going to brook Central interference (though the BJP governments may not resist.) The HRD minister has, therefore, started with the 1,000-odd Kendriya Vidyalayas and now, given that the right-wingers, who seem to have the prescriptions for and the monopoly on nationalism have their eye on the Central Board for Secondary Education, will probably move to impose her writ there. It is going to open old wounds and create havoc for schoolchildren.

It is not going to stop here. Already the likes of Uma Bharati are talking of bringing in Sanskrit as an intermediatory language, between English and Hindi. The idea is to gradually undermine the importance of English, which is seen as “foreign.” Before long someone will suggest demoting English to an optional third language — some states like West Bengal did it and generations have suffered because of that. The ultimate goal is to reshape Indian identity and redefine what it means to be “Indian” in the most restrictive way.

So while the Prime Minister goes around the world asking for foreign investment, his government is shutting the doors to foreign languages — the idea seems to be: “Give us your money and your technology, but not your culture or your ideas.” Couple this with some of the loonier ideas that are emerging, of India having invented everything, from plastic surgery to surface to air missiles and rockets and the systematic effort to alter history books and we can see a new kind of Indian exceptionalism emerging, one that is narrow-minded and relies more on myth than science.

These elements propagating their antediluvian ideas will cause a lot of damage. They have always been around — now they are getting official backing and governmental support. That is worrying. The optimistic in me, however, believes their efforts will ultimately fail and fail spectacularly. Already a legal challenge has been mounted to Ms Irani’s anti-German policy. Demand for schools that offer a curriculum more in tune with the 21st century will go up. State governments will resist interference in their schools. But ultimately, it is the parents, who are as driven by aspirations for their children as any parents across the world will find ways to side step or sabotage anything that reduces their child’s competitiveness in this increasingly globalised world. Yes, they may have signed up for achhe din that will improve India, but they do not want the package deal of cultural-brainwashing that comes with it.