DU Admissions started a long time back; again with soaring cutoffs. Most of the students aspiring for courses like B.Com Hons, Economics Hons, BA(H) English were led down because of high cutoffs by the renowned colleges of Delhi University. Those who were desperate to get into DU either sacrificed their desired course or college.
My question to all those who forego their coveted course is how many of you chose Sanskrit Hons or Pali Hons? How many of you even considered pursuing Sanskrit or Pali as a course to make your future in? I know the answer and its disheartening.
Sanskrit has become an endangered language. Most of the youth do not even remember what they studied in their school, I included. My Sanskrit teacher would be very disappointed in me. The language has come on the verge of extinction because of the lack of students pursuing the ancient language.
Due to lack of career in Sanskrit and lesser job opportunities as compared to other languages like English, French, Hindi etc. the number of students opting for it is very low.
Sanskrit is also related to Hindutva, which in itself is a grave mistake. Sanskrit belongs to no one just like any other language. The rich culture of Sanskrit is in danger as there are not enough jobs in the field. The demand for translators, professors is there but the candidates are lacking. The other stigma with Sanskrit, Pali or even Hindi is that people pursuing it are poor in English. The colonial mindset is so rigid that we do not give any importance to any other languages except English. We judge people on the basis of their English fluency.
This mindset has to be changed if we want Sanskrit to exist in the coming 10 years. The same is with Pali. Pali is such a beautiful language but even this has only a few pursuers. Pali is related to Buddhism. In India, Buddhism is associated with Dalits and the so-called high castes want nothing to do with Dalits. Due to this preconceived notion, Pali is suffering.
Delhi and Haryana government has taken several steps to revive Sanskrit. Many seats have been going vacant in this course. According to Press Trust of India, Delhi government has decided to open 70 centres to revive Sanskrit and make it more accessible.
The government has to take further steps in order to increase the interest of students. We cannot let ancient languages like Sanskrit bite the dust or become a thing of the past.