International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) students will now be able to choose Sanskrit as their second language in A Levels (Std XI and XII). The decision was taken by principals at the annual meeting of the Maharashtra International Schools’ Association (MISA), which was held in the city on September 13.

As of now, IGCSE students have to compulsorily opt for English as their first language and choose their second language from a list of languages including Hindi, Marathi, French, German etc. “While Sanskrit is offered by the Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) board in IGCSE and A levels, most schools didn’t offer Sanskrit as the second language because of the lack of demand among students.