Srinagar: The School Education Department has strongly rebutted the news report published in a local English daily newspaper on July 18 about the possibility of introducing Sanskrit in Kashmir schools from class 6th to 10th.
In an official communiqué issued here, the department said it has taken serious note of a “misleading” news item circulating in certain sections of the media, which claims that Sanskrit is being introduced as a mandatory subject for classes 6th to 10th and an optional subject for classes 3rd to 5th in Kashmir division.
“The School Education department of J&K has not received any communication/direction from the Ministry of Education, Government of India, regarding mandatory/optional introduction of Sanskrit in the curriculum of School Education,” the department stated in the rebuttal.
Clarifying on the matter, the department said that the Secretariat of Lieutenant Governor had received a representation from Purshotam Lal Dube (NGO) for the inclusion of Sanskrit in the schools/colleges of JKUT under the provisions of NEP 2020.
The said communication was forwarded to the Higher/School Education department by the Lieutenant Governor’s Secretariat.
Accordingly, the School Education Department, J&K, forwarded the communication of GAD to the Director, School Education, Jammu/Kashmir, for furnishing comments in the matter. Subsequently, the communication was forwarded to the sub-offices for comments.
Further, the School Education department has stated that the department has not proposed, approved, or initiated any process for the inclusion of Sanskrit as a mandatory or optional subject in schools across Jammu & Kashmir.
