Migrant students reshape Kozhikode's government school classrooms
'I've been teaching here for around 10 years. When I joined, there were around 10 students, a mix of Malayali and migrant children. Now, nearly all our students are children of migrant workers,' Geo Jaison, a teacher at the school, told TNIE.
The rising number of migrant labourers in Kerala — from states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal — has brought a parallel rise in students enrolling in local government schools. 'Whether it's a restaurant, a construction site, or a barber shop, workers from the northern states are everywhere. And now, so are their children,' Jaison said.
This year, for the first time in years, three Malayali students joined the school. 'They mingle well. The Malayali children pick up bits of Hindi, while the others learn Malayalam,' said Byraikulam school headmistress Deepthi K P.
The teachers have adapted too, often blending Malayalam and Hindi while teaching and communicating with parents. 'At PTA meetings, we mostly speak in Hindi because many parents don't understand Malayalam,' Deepthi said.
Families who send their children to local schools are typically those who have settled down with their families.
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Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Workshop for teachers in ‘modern Sanskrit teaching methods' at IIT Roorkee
Roorkee: To promote Sanskrit at the school level, a 12-day workshop aimed at training teachers in innovative and communicative methods of teaching the ancient language is underway at IIT Roorkee. Over 70 teachers from schools across the Roorkee block are participating in the workshop, which is designed to make Sanskrit instruction simpler, more engaging, and practical for students. The programme, which began earlier this week, will continue until Aug 29. The 'Training of Teachers' (TOT) workshop is a collaborative effort between the NGO Samskrita Bharati and the IIT-Roorkee Sanskrit Club. Organisers emphasised that the goal is to help learners connect with Sanskrit beyond traditional rote learning, fostering a deeper appreciation of the language. The event was inaugurated on Monday by IIT-R director prof KK Pant and Dr Anand Bhardwaj, director of Uttarakhand Sanskrit Education, at the Department of Management Studies (DoMS) of the institute. In addition to Sanskrit educators, the workshop includes teachers from Hindi, mathematics, and science disciplines, as well as BEd students and research scholars from the region. "The aim of this workshop is to equip in-service teachers with a simple, communicative, and practical approach to Sanskrit teaching, thereby inspiring students and instilling a sense of pride in India's rich linguistic and knowledge traditions," said Dr Bharti Sharma, faculty member at the local girls' degree college and president of the Roorkee unit of Samskrita Bharati. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area.
News18
9 hours ago
- News18
Should We Learn Sanskrit?
Written By : Last Updated: Sanskrit has the benefit of a body of work, still not comprehended fully by human intellect, even today. Aa no bhadrāḥ krtavo yantu viśvataḥ 'Let noble thoughts come to us from all directions" – (Rg Veda I.89.1) There is a beautiful imagery in Sanskrit poetry of a donkey carrying sandalwood on its back not knowing what it is! As far as the donkey is concerned any load is the same as it doesn't have to do anything with it. That is not the case with human beings I believe. We should be knowing the value of everything we possess, including our heritage. Sanskrit language, which is one among them, is in news these days for many right or wrong reasons. But is it the problem of Sanskrit? Not definitely. Today, Sanskrit is not the mother tongue of many, the way Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Gujarati or any other Indian language is. It is a second language often learned in school, college, home or in a Pathashala. Still there are people who communicate in this language. A language is considered living only if people communicate in it on a daily basis. The Sanskrit word for language, 'bhasha' means 'that in which people talk'. (bhāshyate anena iti bhāshā). Every Hindu child is expected to know at least a few prayers in Sanskrit. The way every Parsi child is taught the Zorastrian prayers (Gathas) in the Avestan language which is no longer spoken. Sanskrit is considered to be one of the oldest of all living languages. Still this language, as we find today, is a complete one with a structured grammar (rather many grammars!), with a vast body of literature starting from the scriptures in oral and written form to modern literature. In between it holds a treasure of technical literature or Shāstra which is maligned day after day. In this world, there will be no population which doubts, blames or belittle its own cultural heritage openly like the Indians. Just because it is written in this ancient language. The fact that the language itself is refined (saṁskṛta) and has regenerative capacity shows the level of development of human intellect during the evolution of this language. Panini, who structured the grammar into sutras (aphorisms) in the Ashtādhyayi, a text of Sanskrit grammar, came centuries after the language came into existence. He himself quotes many grammarians prior to him and this is believed to be in 7th Century BC. Sanskrit has the benefit of a body of work, still not comprehended fully by human intellect, even today. It imparts knowledge on anything, be it karma, righteousness, rituals, statecraft, warfare, art, science, nature, astronomy, astrology, worship, economics, philosophy, after life and what not! Criticising the language just because some political ideology patronises it or some religion has its literature composed in it is not fair. In fact, this language is older than any political party or organised religion we see today. Further, none who criticise Sanskrit has learned it fully so as to appreciate its beauty or grandeur. Once upon a time, even Hebrew language suffered the fate of Sanskrit. This ancient language of Israel was facing extinction as it got reduced to the language of the clergy. People had stopped using it as the medium of daily communication. It was the sacrifice and efforts of a few lovers of this language, especially, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, which brought it back to its glory. Today it is the official language of Israel. This happened in 1948. The people of Israel embraced the language and understood the value of the treasure they bequeathed. Even decades after the architect of Constitution, Dr. suggestion that Sanskrit should be made the official language of India, we are still sceptic about this language's worth and class. The benefit of learning Sanskrit are many. The modern-day computing accepts Sanskrit as the most ideal language for its functioning. Medical science has done ample research on the health benefits of daily chanting of Sanskrit mantras and verses too. But the Indian philosophy, which is non-materialistic, left the issue of utility to lesser mortals and exhorted the finer souls to learn it for one's own Self. Bhagavad Gita ordains it 'Elevate the self by the self" ( The perils of neglecting Sanskrit are more evident today. Every Indian language is anglicised today. Nothing against English, which is still the connecting language we value. The distancing from the roots is not good for any language, even though languages evolve over time. The farther we go away from Sanskrit, the more distanced we are from our mother tongue because not many Indian languages today can stand on their legs if Sanskrit is removed completely from its vocabulary, not even the Dravidian languages. The way there are loan words from the Dravidian languages in classical Sanskrit, there are immense number of loan words in the South Indian languages which belong originally to Sanskrit, and can be traced back to the proto-Indo European language family. The similarity of roots of words in Persian language and Sanskrit and the similarities between Avesta and Vedic Sanskrit points out to the common parentage of these languages. The mother of all languages, at least in this language family, is believed to be the now lost proto-Indo-European, which linguists have tried to reconstruct based on the remaining evidences from the Vedas and the Avesta. This is evident from the similar words of relations and numbers seen in almost all these languages. Pitar (father) in Sanskrit become pedar in Persian, bhratr (brother) becomes berathar and anghusta (thumb) becomes angosht. Ekam (one) becomes yek and dasha (ten) becomes daha. As the Vedas declare, 'ekam sad viprāḥ bahudhā vadanti" (Truth is one, but the wise speak it as many). Tamil, belonging to the Dravidian family of languages is one of the ancient and is a world treasure. When Sanskrit is promoted or preserved, there is a misconception that Tamil or any other Dravidian language is ignored or degraded. Languages can co-exist; they have done it beautifully for centuries. Prakrit co-existed with Sanskrit, as we see in Kalidasa's Abhijnāna Shākuntalam and many other works. Malayalam co-existed beautifully with Sanskrit and we have exquisite poetry in manipravālam (a combination of Sanskrit and Malayalam). Even today Indian languages co-exist with English, French, German and other foreign languages which our kids learn. In a sense, Sanskrit has the rare distinction of unifying the whole of India over the years as it was used as the connecting language when scholars from different regional languages came together to debate on various topics, the way English is used today. Learning multiple languages broadens the mind as linguistic and medical research confirms. Our children have the golden opportunity to learn many ancient languages easily in this country, which can make them better humans by imbibing the rich cultural heritage preserved in multiple languages. The joy of reading Chilappatikaram of Ilango Adigal in chaste Sangam Tamil is nothing less than the joy of reading Raghuvamsa of Kalidasa in Sanskrit. Thirukkural stands high and lofty the way Ramayana adorns our literary throne. A deeper learning of these two alone will tell us how similar were the thoughts of those brilliant sages who left them for us. Buddhist and Jaina literature used Sanskrit apart from Pali, Ardh-Magadhi, Prakrit and other similar languages. Preserving and understanding them is impossible without the knowledge of Sanskrit. Various projects are ongoing worldwide, to study, edit, translate and publish these valuable works preserved mostly in the form of manuscripts, for the benefit of posterity. It is our duty to handover these treasures in their actual glory, to future generations. It is with this noble intention that the Mughal prince Dara Shukoh, a devout Muslim, learned Sanskrit and translated the Bhagavad Gita and 51 Upanisads into Persian. Scholars from every part of the world have come to India to learn this language to understand the secret knowledge preserved in it. Even today it is taught in many foreign universities. But Indians are uniquely positioned in learning, propagating and preserving Sanskrit compared to other nations just because it is still a living language here. Instead of fighting over languages, should not we pause and reflect? We exist now and so we can think. We own this great treasure, and we are human beings who can differentiate between something which is valuable and not so. top videos View all Let noble thoughts alone come to us! The author is a former civil servant who resigned to learn Sanskrit and Vedanta. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. About the Author Veena Raj Veena Raj is a former civil servant who resigned to learn Sanskrit and Vedanta. Click here to add News18 as your preferred news source on Google. tags : sanskrit view comments Location : New Delhi, India, India First Published: August 19, 2025, 15:14 IST News opinion Opinion | Should We Learn Sanskrit? Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. 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Hindustan Times
10 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
BSF Head Constable Recruitment 2025: Registration for 1121 posts begins August 24 at rectt.bsf.gov.in
Border Security Force, BSF has invited applications for Head Constable posts. Eligible candidates can apply online through the official website of BSF at This recuitment drive will fill up 1121 posts in the organisation. BSF Head Constable Recruitment 2025: Registration for 1121 posts begins August 24 at The registration process will begin on August 24 and will end on September 23, 2025. Read below for eligibility, selection process and other details. Vacancy Details 1. HC (RO): 910 posts 2. HC (RM): 211 posts Eligibility Criteria Candidates who want to apply for the posts mentioned above can check the educational qualification and age limit through the Detailed Notification available here. Selection Process The selection process will comprise of PST and PET followed by computer based test and document verification. The computer based test will be conducted in English and Hindi medium only. The MCQ type computer based test will be held for 2 hours. The exam will be conducted at the selected centres on the date and time fixed by HQ DG BSF. In the computer based test, MCQ paper, there will be 100 questions of 2 marks each. The final merit list for HC (RO) will be prepared by considering the total marks obtained in the Computer Based Test (CBT) (200 marks) plus Dictation Test (50 marks) out of Total 250 marks subject to qualifying in the paragraph reading test. The final merit list for HC (RM) will be prepared with total marks obtained in the Computer Based Test (CBT) out of 200 marks. Application Fee The application fee for male candidates belonging to Unreserved (UR), OBC and EWS categories for the post of HC(RO) & HC(RM) is ₹100/- for each post. The exam fee can be paid through net banking, credit/debit card and via nearest authorised common service centre. No exam fee is required to be paid by the candidates belonging to exempted categories & Female candidates (i.e. candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes, BSF Departmental candidates, Ex-Servicemen and Compassionate Appointment). For more related details candidates can check the official website of BSF.
