This might bring smiles to the faces of Maoists and janajati activists, and make sense to a lot of other people. The compulsory Sanskrit requirement will be deleted from the high school curriculum starting the next academic year. Students will now be able to decide whether they want to master what is said to be the mother of most South Asian languages, or concentrate on civic education. Maoist students had forced a series of school closures last year demanding that Sanskrit be scrapped from the curriculum as it is a "dead language", and janajati activists have singled it out as one more way of imposing a homogenising Hindu identity and culture upon all Nepali citizens.