German envoy refuses to comment on SC view on KV Sanskrit

On a day the Supreme Court asked the Centre to consider not replacing German with Sanskrit in Kendriya Vidyalayas in the middle of the ongoing academic session, German Ambassador to India Michael Steiner refused to comment on the matter.
"I think there is a time to speak and there is a time also to be silent," the Ambassador said on the sidelines of a satsang session held in the German Embassy which was attended by spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
"Today, we had the experience of an enriching satsang which refreshed us all. I can only say thank you for this occasion I had here in India," said Steiner, who had organised the event to mark his birthday.

Union Human Resources Development Minister Smriti Irani, who was on the list of more than a thousand invitees for the occasion, however, did not turn up at the embassy.
Terming his stint in India one of his "greatest experiences", the German Ambassador said he was very proud to have served here.
"It makes me very proud to have this opportunity to serve here in India. This was one of the greatest experiences I had in my professional life," he said.

The apex court today, while appreciating the Centre's decision to introduce Sanskrit for classes 6 to 8, however, said that any change in the curriculum in the middle of the session would put additional burden on the students.

It then asked the Centre to consider implementing the decision from the next academic year.
The Board of Governors (BoG) of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS), headed by Irani, had at a meeting on October 27 decided that "teaching of German language as an option to Sanskrit will be discontinued herewith". German has been kept as an additional subject for students.
The government's decision to discontinue German is expected to affect over 75,000 students in classes 6 to 8 across 500 KVs who will be asked to switch to Sanskrit.