Many of the city's well-known schools across boards are serious about Sanskrit as there is a great demand for the language from parents and students. Not only do parents want their children to remain rooted to their tradition, Sanskrit is also a scoring subject in board examinations in comparison to other languages and help students in fetching good aggregate marks.
Even as the Centre asked CBSE schools to observe Sanskrit Week, many schools have planned activities till this month end. Many others however have given it a miss as the circular came at the eleventh hour.
Girija Singh, principal of Navy Children's School, said, "We do not celebrate it in an elaborate way, but we do it every year. We make children read shlokas every morning in this week which they usually read only once a week. Then we keep essay competitions in Sanskrit." She added that Sanskrit is a high-scoring subject and lots of students choose it over other languages and that is why they have made it their second language in the school. The school offers Sanskrit from Class VI.
Avnita Bir, principal of RN Podar School, said the school could not plan anything elaborate as the circular came very late. "But our school may plan a small thing in class in the coming week. There is a good demand from students. Earlier it attracted many students as it was a scoring subject, but now the reasons may not be the same as there was no mandatory board exam in Class X," said Bir.
At Apeejay School in Nerul, the authorities held a Sanskrit Shlok recitation competition this week and may plan more activities, which may not be according to the guidelines laid down by the board. On the contrary, Rekha Shahani, from an SSC school in the western suburbs, said, "We are not celebrating Sanskrit week in our school. Celebrating just for one week and then forgetting about it for the rest of the year doesn't really make sense. But that's not the only reason, actually, we do not offer Sanskrit in our school anymore because children opted out of it. Many of our country's important languages are dying and Sanskrit is one of them."
Even as the Centre asked CBSE schools to observe Sanskrit Week, many schools have planned activities till this month end. Many others however have given it a miss as the circular came at the eleventh hour.
Girija Singh, principal of Navy Children's School, said, "We do not celebrate it in an elaborate way, but we do it every year. We make children read shlokas every morning in this week which they usually read only once a week. Then we keep essay competitions in Sanskrit." She added that Sanskrit is a high-scoring subject and lots of students choose it over other languages and that is why they have made it their second language in the school. The school offers Sanskrit from Class VI.
Avnita Bir, principal of RN Podar School, said the school could not plan anything elaborate as the circular came very late. "But our school may plan a small thing in class in the coming week. There is a good demand from students. Earlier it attracted many students as it was a scoring subject, but now the reasons may not be the same as there was no mandatory board exam in Class X," said Bir.
At Apeejay School in Nerul, the authorities held a Sanskrit Shlok recitation competition this week and may plan more activities, which may not be according to the guidelines laid down by the board. On the contrary, Rekha Shahani, from an SSC school in the western suburbs, said, "We are not celebrating Sanskrit week in our school. Celebrating just for one week and then forgetting about it for the rest of the year doesn't really make sense. But that's not the only reason, actually, we do not offer Sanskrit in our school anymore because children opted out of it. Many of our country's important languages are dying and Sanskrit is one of them."
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