Shekhawat highlights Kerala school's Sanskrit-football project
Synopsis
Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat spotlighted 'Aksharakanduk', a Kerala school project where teacher Abhilash uses football vocabulary to teach Sanskrit, sharing it under the Mann Ki Baat banner on 26 July 2026.
Key Takeaways
Union Culture and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat shared the initiative on 26 July 2026 under the #MannKiBaat hashtag.
The project, named Aksharakanduk , is based at a school in South Chittoor, Ernakulam, Kerala .
Teacher Abhilash runs a Sanskrit club and teaches Sanskrit letters by linking them to football terminology.
The initiative aligns with National Education Policy 2020 recommendations to promote classical languages through creative pedagogy.
Mann Ki Baat has been a consistent platform for surfacing grassroots cultural and language revival stories since 2014 .
Union Culture and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Sunday, 26 July 2026, shared details of an innovative Sanskrit-learning initiative from South Chittoor, Ernakulam, Kerala, praising a local teacher for blending classical language instruction with football terminology to engage young students.
Context
Shekhawat's post, tagged #MannKiBaat, highlights a project called 'Aksharakanduk' — loosely translating to 'letter-ball' — running out of a school in South Chittoor, Ernakulam district. The school has an active Sanskrit club, and a teacher identified as Abhilash is credited with designing the method. As the minister described it, 'Sanskrit letters are explained in an easy way by linking them to words used in football.'
The hashtag connects the post to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's monthly radio programme Mann Ki Baat, which regularly surfaces grassroots citizen initiatives from across the country. Shekhawat's amplification suggests the project may feature in or has been inspired by a recent episode of the programme.
Policy Backdrop
The initiative sits squarely within the framework of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which recommended greater emphasis on classical languages, including Sanskrit, in school curricula. The policy encouraged schools to integrate Sanskrit through creative, non-traditional pedagogy rather than rote learning.
Since 2014, successive government efforts have sought to revive interest in Sanskrit by linking it to sports, arts, and everyday life. The Ministry of Culture has supported various classical language promotion schemes, and Mann Ki Baat has become a consistent platform for spotlighting such ground-level experiments in language and culture revival.
Stakeholders and Impact
The primary beneficiaries of the Aksharakanduk project are school students in Ernakulam, who are introduced to Sanskrit script and vocabulary through the familiar vocabulary of football — a sport with deep roots in Kerala. Teacher Abhilash is identified as the driving force behind the Sanskrit club and its sport-linked teaching method.
The approach is notable for its regional context: Kerala is not traditionally associated with Sanskrit promotion drives in public discourse, making a football-linked Sanskrit programme there a particularly distinctive example of cultural outreach. By sharing it on a national platform, Shekhawat signals that such models could inspire similar efforts in other states.
What's Next
The minister's post raises the prospect of the Aksharakanduk model receiving wider national attention, either through a dedicated segment on Mann Ki Baat or through formal recognition by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Schools and language educators in other states may look to replicate the football-Sanskrit linkage method as a template for classical language engagement. The episode also underscores the government's broader push to make Sanskrit accessible to younger generations through sport and popular culture, a trend likely to gain momentum under the NEP implementation roadmap.
Point of View
Using the Mann Ki Baat ecosystem to nationalise a hyperlocal story from Kerala — a state where the BJP is keen to expand its cultural footprint. The choice of a football-linked Sanskrit project is strategically layered: it neutralises the perception that Sanskrit promotion is confined to the Hindi heartland, while also signalling that NEP 2020's classical language mandate is producing tangible, innovative results on the ground. For the Ministry of Culture, such stories serve as low-cost, high-visibility proof points for policy outcomes ahead of any formal review of NEP implementation. The broader pattern suggests we may see more such state-specific cultural vignettes amplified through ministerial social media as the government builds its 2026 cultural narrative.
NationPress
26 Jul 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Aksharakanduk project in Kerala?
Aksharakanduk is a Sanskrit-learning initiative at a school in South Chittoor, Ernakulam, Kerala, where teacher Abhilash teaches Sanskrit letters by connecting them to words and terminology used in football, making the classical language more accessible to young students.
Who is teacher Abhilash mentioned by Shekhawat?
Abhilash is a teacher at a school in South Chittoor, Ernakulam, Kerala, who runs a Sanskrit club and developed the Aksharakanduk method of linking Sanskrit script to football vocabulary to make learning more engaging for students.
What is Mann Ki Baat and why is it relevant here?
Mann Ki Baat is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's monthly radio programme that highlights citizen-led initiatives from across India. Shekhawat tagged his post with #MannKiBaat, indicating the Kerala Sanskrit project may feature in or was drawn from a recent episode of the programme.
How does the Aksharakanduk project connect to NEP 2020?
The National Education Policy 2020 recommended promoting classical languages including Sanskrit through creative, non-traditional methods in schools. The Aksharakanduk project, which uses football terminology to teach Sanskrit, is a direct example of the kind of innovative pedagogy NEP 2020 envisioned.
Why is a Sanskrit project in Kerala considered significant?
Kerala is not conventionally associated with Sanskrit promotion campaigns in national discourse. A football-linked Sanskrit initiative from Ernakulam is therefore seen as a distinctive example of classical language outreach beyond the Hindi heartland, giving it added symbolic weight when amplified by a Union Minister.
