New Delhi : The central government Thursday reiterated its position that Sanskrit would be the third language in place of German in Kendriya Vidyalayas from class 6 to 8.
The government’s position came as Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi sought the court’s nod for filing an affidavit on the storm arising from its decision to replace German by Sanskrit in central schools all over the country – a move facing stiff resistance from the parents of the children who had opted for German.
Rohatgi mentioned the matter before the bench headed by Chief Justice H.L.Dattu seeking permission to file the affidavit.
A bench headed by Justice Anil R.Dave had last week issued notice to the central government and Kendriya Vidyalayas Sangthan on a plea by oV.S.Ramanathan challenging the government decision to replace German with Sanskrit in the the academic mid-session.
The government decision had created an uproar including queries from the German government.
German was introduced in Kendriya Vidyalayas following the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan and Goethe Institute of Max Mueller Bhavan.
The decision to scrap German in Kendriya Vidyalayas has affected over 70,000 students and also put in uncertainty the job of 700 teachers teaching the language in these schools.
Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani has described the MoU as being violative of the constitution, saying that as per schedule 8 of the constitution, 22 languages were available which did not include German.