brisbaneindias move to drop german as an alternative to sanskrit as a third language in kendriya vidyalayas prompted german chancellor angela merkel to raise the issue with prime minister narendra modi who assured her of looking at it within the confines of the indian systemread also smriti irani defends sanskrit replacing german as third language in kendriya vidyalayas during a meeting on the sidelines of the g20 summit merkel raised the issue with modi besides inviting him to visit germany merkel did raise the issue of teaching german language in indian schools she raised in a manner requesting the prime minister to have a look in it and see what would be the best way forward prime minister assured her merkel that he himself is the votary of young indian children learning other languages he said how it is best done within the confines of indian system we will work it out external affairs ministry spokesperson syed akbaruddin saidread also third language change in cbse schools upsets parents german ambassador to india michael steiner has already raised the issue with the indian government hoping a pragmatic solution as the human resource development ministry has decided to drop the german language over 70000 students across 500 kendriya vidyalayas from classes vi to viii are supposed to be asked to switch from german to sanskrit the 2011 memorandum of understanding that made german a third language was signed between the kendriya vidyalayas and goethe institutemax mueller bhawan union hrd minister smriti irani has defended the move saying the existing arrangement was in violation of the threelanguage formula she however said german would continue to be taught as an additional subject of hobby class in the threelanguage formula schools teach hindi english and a modern indian language sanskrit teachers had moved the delhi high court alleging that the central schools had introduced german as a third language in place of sanskrit against the education policy