After private schools, now government schools in India are also offering foreign language courses for the first time. The "Kendriya Vidyalaya" or "Central Schools" have become the first central government institution to take the plunge.

A pilot project is underway at the Kendriya Vidyalaya in Delhi, where 85 students are taking their first steps to learn German. 40 schools in India have signed a memorandum of understanding with Germany's cultural ambassador, the Goethe-Institut, under the PASCH initiative. Amita Desai, director of the Goethe-Zentrum Hyderabad, introduces the programme:

“PASCH is a wonderful initiative by the government of Germany which offers exchange between India and Germany at school levels. It is believed that through the interaction, children will become partners for the future. We have students' exchange - Indian students come to Germany, spend anything between two to six weeks to study at a German school and interact with the children of their age groups. We have similar exchange from students in Germany coming to India.”

Teachers’ training

The teachers will also be trained and offered refresher courses for teaching German as a foreign language. The initiative also foresees providing support to the member schools in developing or revamping German as a school subject. Amita Desai explains:

“We are trying to reach out through different modes -- technical support and content support. A large number of German books have been made available, as well as CDs and video cassettes. We also furnish the schools with technical facilities such as projection facilities; there are audio and visual materials that we provide schools with, and also a language lab facility.”

Partnership with Germany

15 education officials from different Indian cities recently visited Germany to improve relations with German schools. The principal of Bal Bharti Public School Delhi L.V Sehgal, was part of the delegation.

“This visit is giving me a chance to understand the PASCH programme and how the institutions are working here", says Sehgal. "And then we are looking forward to partnership programmes with some schools in Germany. Already three of my students were in Germany for an advanced learning programme. So avenues are opening up because of this programme and the funding available for this type of learning.”

Sehgal says school partnerships will help students in India get international language certificates, which would then become a passport to further studies in Germany.

There is a clear trend in favour of German as a school subject in India, with a few dozen schools teaching German this year, compared to only a handful in 2000. The PASCH exchange and partnership programme is set to offer a further incentive to those teenagers interested in the German language.

Author: Jaisu Bhullar
Editor: Grahame Lucas