Teaching regional languages at Army Public Schools will put burden on students: Govt

The Central government has ruled out teaching regional languages in Army Public Schools and said that it will put an unnecessary burden on students as they have to frequently change cities.

Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt has apprised Lok Sabha that teaching regional languages at Army Public Schools will put an extra burden on students.

He said, "Army Public Schools are established under the aegis of the Army Welfare and Education Society to cater to education requirements for wards of Indian Army personnel who hail from diverse backgrounds and regions of India with different mother tongues. 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” 

Ajay Bhatt said that due to the nature of service, Indian Army personnel are transferred frequently, at short notice, mostly in the middle of the academic calendar and at times in field locations away from their families.

"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 mentioned.

He said the change of regional language in the middle of an academic session will place an unnecessary educational burden, in addition to emotional turmoil due to academic instability that Army wards have to endure when transferred into a new environment every few years, he added, as reported by The Pioneer.

No regional languages will be taught in Army Public Schools

Army Welfare Education Society had issued a circular on 8 December 2021 and told all Army Public Schools across the country that regional languages won’t be taught in the schools. “The provision of teaching a regional language is not practical,” it stated, as reported by Hindustan Times.

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