Silicon Valley schools include Hindi as world language in curriculum

In a first for California, two government schools in popular Silicon Valley will for the first time include Hindi as a world language in their curriculum. The decision made in January 2024 to introduce Hindi as an optional subject was welcomed by the large Indian American community at Fremont.

Recognition of Hindi as a world language:

• The large Indian American community in Fremont, California has welcomed the decision. The people living here were demanding to teach Hindi to their children in schools.
• Fremont, California has the highest number of Indian Americans. In such a situation, the decision to teach Hindi as an optional subject in two government schools is being welcomed.
• The Fremont Unified School District (FUSD) board has decided to start a pilot program for the study of Hindi.

Will be taught at Horner Middle School and Irvington High School:

• The Fremont Unified School District (FUSD) Board voted 4-1 on January 17 to launch a pilot program. Hindi will be included in the curriculum of Horner Middle School and Irvington High School in the 2024-25 session starting in August.
• 65 percent of the student population at Horner Middle School and Irvington High School is Indian American. There are a total of 29 primary, five middle and five high schools in the entire district.
• Members Vivek Prasad, Sharon Coco, Larry Sweeney and President Yajing Zhang, who attended the FUSD board meeting, supported the proposal to teach Hindi language. He cited the welfare of students as the main factor in his decision.
• Trustee Vivek Prasad, who supported the proposal, said, I termed the decision to teach Hindi language as an important decision for the community living there.

Hindi can be taught in other schools also

According to Trustee Sharon Cocco, demonstrating FUSD's commitment to its student community, if the pilot program at the two public schools is successful, it will be rolled out to other locations.

In which countries is Hindi being taught?

• Hindi has already got a lot of recognition at the global level. Presently it is being taught in schools of many countries. The countries where Hindi is being taught are mainly-
  • Countries like Mauritius, Fiji, Japan, Italy, Nepal, South Africa, Finland, etc.
• Apart from this, recently Britain has also decided to start teaching Hindi language in 1500 schools from this academic session. For this, Britain’s government has also allocated a budget of Rs 2 crore.

World Hindi Day

• World Hindi Day is celebrated every year on 10 January to promote Hindi globally.
• The theme of Hindi Day this year in 2024 is 'Hindi - linking traditional knowledge and artificial intelligence'.

Some important facts regarding Hindi:

• Hindi is taught in many universities worldwide.
• Hindi is one of the five most spoken languages across the world.
• Hindi has been given the status of official language in Fiji.
• Now web addresses or URLs are also being created in Hindi language.
• The English language is also adopting Hindi words like Avtaar, Yoga, etc.
• Hindi written in Devanagari script is considered one of the simplest scientific languages globally.