Teaching regional languages will put unnecessary burden on APS students: MoS for Defence
India Today
Minister of State (MoS) for Defence Ajay Bhatt said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha that teaching regional languages will put unnecessary burden on APS students.
Minister of State (MoS) for Defence Ajay Bhatt said on Friday that because Army Public School(APS) students have to change their cities often due to the nature of their parents’ employment, teaching them regional languages will put an unnecessary burden upon them. Giving a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, he added that APS have been established to cater to the children of Indian Army Personnel, who belong to diverse backgrounds and parts of the nation.
MoS for defence Ajay Bhatt further explained, “Unlike other schools with students from the immediate and extended locality, all 136 Army Public Schools are enrolled primarily with wards of Indian Army personnel, who have been transferred-in from another location.”
He went on to explain that Indian Army personnel are frequently transferred to field locations away from their families at a short notice due to the nature of their service and that it mostly happens in the middle of the academic calendar.
Regarding the standardisation of languages, MoS for Defence Ajay Bhatt further stated, “The relatively limited period of stay of families with serving personnel in station and frequent transfer necessitated standardisation of the languages i.e. English, Hindi and Sanskrit which was undertaken since the inception of the schools in 1950.”
He added that the changing of regional language in the middle of an academic session will put an unnecessary educational burden on Army wards along with the emotional turmoil caused by instability due to moving to a new environment every few years.
(With PTI inputs)
