German Ambassador to India Michael Steiner on Saturday said that he was confident that the two countries would find a practical solution to the controversy surrounding teaching of German as the third language in Kendriya Vidyalas across India.
Mr. Steiner, who was the chief guest at a cultural event at Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, said, “There have been discussions of late about teaching German in India, but I am confident that after the meeting of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the countries will find a solution to the issue. ”
Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met German Chancellor Angela Merkel during the G20 Summit and had assured her to look into the controversy surrounding the issue.
The German Ambassador spoke about strengthening ties between the countries through the medium of the language.
“The countries should resolve the issue to preserve the cultural identity and to continue our programme of learning German language,” Mr. Steiner said.
Best learnersHe said that Indian students are the best learners of German language.
“I have visited many countries where people learn German language, but I must admit that the best learners of the language are in India,” he said.
An MoU was signed between Kendriya Vidyalayas and Goethe Institute-Max Mueller Bhawan in 2011 to offer German as the third language, but after the HRD Ministry’s recent decision of not reviving the MoU, over 70,000 students across 500 Kendriya Vidyalayas will be forced to study Sanskrit as their third language at a time when they have their final examinations in the next three months
