Languages is the soul of the communication . They provide words to our emotion so that we can deliver our message to other. Is it appropriate to treat languages differently ,even though they deliver the same function ?
No , it is not correct and we all agree from it but the reality shows something quite different scenario to what we think. The pattern of DU Cutoff list reveals that subject like English hons cutoff always in the range of 98% and above whereas Hindi follow the range of 90% to 98% but Sanskrit is the range of 85%.
From the cutoff only it is clear that the interest gap between the languages .
According to Pankaj Mishra( Associate professor of Sanskrit at St Stephen’s College) the lack of interest in Sanskrit like subjects is due to paltry job opportunities with miserable pay. He even added that Translators are paid as low as Rs 200-300 per page, which is less than what a daily wage labourer gets. From the research it is also show that the lack of interest in the subject is also due to the inferiority complex which is created by the society among students.
But Sanskrit is not only subject that have to face problem . Subjects like Pali ( Middle Indo-Aryan language native to the Indian Subcontinent ) and Prakrit ( which was used extensively to write the scriptures of Jainism) have the same fate .
Pali which is used to write wide range of Buddhist texts have a certificate course offered by DU , to promote the language . But it seems that all effort are in vain. Because from the data of past years about 125 out of 234 seats in the masters course remain vacant every year.
KTS Sarao, head of the department, said religion-language association also influences students’ decisions to pursue a subject. Like Sanskrit belongs to Hinduism and Pali belong to Buddhism which implies that it belong to scheduled caste . This negative way of thinking is the major cause of hampering the interest of students.
One more reason which maybe behind the inclination of interest in other language lie in the schooling of students. During schools Sanskrit is a third-language option in Class 6 – while colleges admit students who have studied it till Classes 8, 10 or 12. In schools the basic rules of grammer are not taught well as they consider Sanskrit as a scoring subject and cram all the answers to score well. And college teachers end up having to teach it anew. “We have to be very patient,” said Meena Kumari of Miranda House.
Not only that but students also have critical reviews regarding it. Some of them are as follows :-
1) Pooja , a 23 years old want to pursue history hons but end up taking Sanskrit hons. She told that “People keep asking me what I will make of a degree in Sanskrit in today’s time. One can either become an academician, a translator or take up some job in the media industry,”
2)Vidya (name changed) want to pursue Sanskrit . She told that “Sanskrit comes naturally to me. But I couldn’t take it up in senior secondary classes because I didn’t know if it was being offered at all,”
3)Shikha Shukla want to pursue history hons but due to high cutoff she have to go with Sanskrit hons. She stated that “Studying in Delhi University is a big opportunity, so I would have chosen anything,”
Somewhere or other there are lot of problems faced by students who opted Sanskrit subject. Government is also trying their level best to promote the ancient languages. Some of the action taken by the different state of government regarding this matter are as follows :-
-) The Delhi government announced its plans to start 70 Sanskrit centres across the city .
-) The Haryana government said that they were planning to re-introduce Sanskrit as an optional subject in the state government colleges.
So , It is a high time to take a appropriate action to change the circumstances and show some respect to the ancient languages by giving our time to them.
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