Vice President praises 14 engineering colleges for offering courses in mother tongue, urges others to follow suit

Lauding the move of 14 engineering colleges across eight states to offer courses in regional languages, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has urged more educational institutions, particularly those imparting technical and professional studies to follow suit. 

He said providing courses in the regional languages would serve as a boon to the students. “It is my desire to see the day when all vocational and professional courses like engineering, medicine and law are taught in mother languages.” 

In a Facebook post titled ‘Engineering courses in mother language—A step in the right direction', posted in 11 Indian languages, the Vice President expressed his happiness over the decision of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to permit BTech programmes in 11 native languages—Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, Malayalam, Bengali, Assamese, Punjabi and Odia. He also welcomed the decision of 14 engineering colleges across eight states for offering regional languages in select branches from the new academic year. He said, “I strongly believe that it is a step in the right direction.” 

Referring to the benefits of learning in the mother tongue, the Vice President said it enhanced one’s grasping and comprehension levels. “To understand a subject in another language, one has to first learn and master that language, which needs a lot of effort. However, this is not the case while learning in one’s mother tongue,” he added. 

Citing a UN report that one language in the world becomes extinct every two weeks, Shri Naidu expressed his concern that 196 Indian languages in India are endangered. He said, “There is a need for adopting a multipronged approach to protect our native languages and promote learning in the mother tongue.”  

Appreciating the steps taken by the government to protect languages, the Vice President pointed out that the New Education Policy encouraged imparting education, wherever possible in mother tongue/local language/regional language/home language at least till Class 5 and preferably till Class 8 and beyond. He said that many studies across the world had established that teaching in the mother tongue in the initial stages of education boosted a child’s self-esteem and enhanced his or her creativity. 

Read more:

• Now, 14 engineering colleges to teach in regional languages officially
• AICTE revises 2021 academic calendar, classes to begin in October