Hyderabad: German language will be back in Kendriya Vidyalayas as an additional foreign language from the 2016-17 academic year, on April 1.
This comes six months after a agreement was reached between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel to re-introduce German in KVs.
The KV Sangathan headquarters in New Delhi recently issued a circular stating that German would be taught for three periods every week Earlier, German was listed as a third language along with Sanskrit, for Classes 6 to 8, after Hindi and English as the first and second languages. German was made part of the KV school curriculum by then HRD minister Kapil Sibal in 2011-12.
Stating that a foreign language replacing an Indian language, like a student opting for German over Sanskrit, was a violation of the national policy on education and other rules, HRD minister Smriti Irani decided to drop German in October 2014. The decision was taken in the middle of the academic year, attracting criticism.
A few KV schools could not comply with this because students in Classes 9 and 10 had opted for German as second language, after studying it as a third language from Classes 6 to 8.
The same was communicated to the CBSE, that conducts exams from Class 9. Since the CBSE disallows change of option in the middle of the year, these KV schools were left with no option.
The focus is now on 16-odd KV schools in the state capital region. German is being taught to Class 10 students in KV-1 and KV-2 in Uppal, KV-Tirmulghery and KV-Picket.
Before the HRD ministry’s decision, it was taught in a dozen-odd schools. Goethe Zentrum Institute, which promotes German in Hyderabad, will reach out to KV authorities in Hyderabad in the coming days.
Institute director Amita Desai said Goethe Zentrum was extending co-operation to KV schools when German was first introduced in 2011.
“We provided them a list of qualified German teachers, who were then roped in to teach the language in KV schools. Now that it is being reintroduced, GZ will engage with the concerned officials to ensure more schools offer German language facility to students,” she said.
