AICTE has allowed colleges to offer engineering degrees in regional languages. In the first phase, courses will be taught in five languages - Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, and Bengali from the academic session (2020-21). For this, AICTE is translating the courses into 11 different languages. It is also creating online and offline content.
Providing courses in Indian languages has been suggested in the National Policy on Education (NEP). The NEP states that no student should be discriminated against in higher education institutions because of their language preference. AICTE officials state that engineering students had shown interest in studying in their mother tongue.
AICTE surveyed undergraduate engineering students earlier this year. In which almost half (43.79%) of the students said that they want to study in regional languages. According to the AICTE survey, 12,487, 7,818, and 3,991 students are willing to study in Tamil, Hindi, and Telugu respectively.
The committee headed by Prem Vrat recommended that students should be provided with options to study engineering courses in regional languages in institutes approved by NITs/IITs and AICTE.
Whereas IITs have not yet agreed to offer courses in regional languages, citing several reasons. A total of 14 colleges across nine states have expressed interest in offering engineering programs in regional languages. It includes B Tech Computer Science, IT, Mechanical, Civil, Electrical, and Electronics.
English will be a compulsory subject for students studying in regional languages. According to media reports, students will have to take a compulsory English course in all four years so that they can acquire the necessary skills in the English language and be able to find employment in any part of the world.
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