Around 500 teachers of German language who stood to lose their jobs were saved at the last minute on Monday night.
A letter from the Joint Commissioner of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan was put up on its website, informing the schools in all regions that teachers who were “recruited on a contractual basis for teaching of German must be continued as per existing terms and conditions”.
“My Principal had asked me to leave and I had wrapped up my last class on November 13. This letter came as a big relief. I visited the school on Tuesday morning and was given back my job,” said a teacher who had been teaching at the same school since 2005.
However, the situation in the city’s Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan’s remained tense on Tuesday despite many teachers of German language who had wrapped up their last classes being asked to join back on producing the letters. Principals and officials too refused to take phone calls or respond to enquiries despite repeated attempts.
A few days ago, the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development had asked KVs across board to discontinue German as a third language option and teach Sanskrit instead. Around 68,000 students from Classes VI to VIII who had opted to learn German stood to be affected by the move. The Ministry had also specified that German would be taught as an additional hobby class. And this was the basis on which the letter had said that the teachers could be retained.
“It is hereby clarified that the teaching of German [foreign] language will be continued for those students of Classes VI to VIII who were studying it...and opt for continuing the study of German language as an additional subject of hobby class,” said the letter signed by Joint Commissioner Shachi Kant.
“We have three sports periods and cannot give it up to learn another subject. It is too much to expect us to sit in class and study, and give up a sports period only because we have been studying German all this while. Also, we will be learning another Indian language anyway,” said a student.
“None of the Principals have made any commitment as to whether we will be hired to teach the hobby class or not. Most of us have studied German as a main subject. We have B.A and additional diplomas in this language and are ill-equipped to change streams and start teaching other subjects. We are tensed right now and do not know when we might find other jobs,” said another teacher.
A few days ago, there were reports that the Ministry had discovered that a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the KVs and the Goethe Institute-Max Mueller Bhawan in 2011 had not been referred to it at any stage. The MoU was also found to be inconsistent with the three-language edict found in the national policy on education as well as the national curriculum framework of 2005, which prescribes any modern Indian language as an optional subject in addition to English and Hindi. Sanskrit was a popular north Indian choice until the option of German was given.
Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan Commissioner Avinash Dikshit was not available for comment despite repeated attempts.
