The University Commission (UG) has plans to start full-time Under Graduate, Post Graduate, course in regional languages, months after the ALL India Council For Technical Education (AICTE) initiated the process of offering Engineering courses in Indian Languages.
Once the UGC draws the blueprint, the Vice- Chancellors of Central and state universities will be bound to consider the prospects of offerings full-time courses in STEM and other disciplines, including professional programmes in India Languages.
As suggested by some expertise in the field of education the initial attempts to introduce regional language in the UG and PG can be proved to be a challenging owing to the diver student’s composition, lack of requisite faculty and study materials in the native tongue.
Different Opinionative Statements By Popular Mediums:
According to Yogesh Singh, Vice- chancellor, University of Delhi, the move may be beneficial for a certain section of students, English and Hindi will continue to remain as the popular mediums of instruction. “We cannot have a mix of Languages in the teaching language process, making it imperative to have dedicated departments that can work solely towards a particular medium of instruction. Regional Languages may put students at a disadvantage while opting for global careers, unless they choose to give equal importance to English to access international reference books and periodicals,” he stated.
In contrast to the above statement head, Department of Educational Studies, Central University of JAMMU, J N Baliya stresses that students will not have any problem in competing globally in their respective fields and officially stated “They will have better conceptual clarity if they are taught through regional languages which is a global practice in the developed countries.”
Clash Of Opinion On Equity And Inclusion
The inclusion of regional languages is in sync with NEP 2020 guidelines stated J N Baliya. According to him the main principles of the policy would be promotion of multilingualism which will offer full equality and inclusion to students to study in the regional medium.
He further explained the policy will facilitate to integrate digital learning tools and the framework with Indian Languages so that all students can access quality learning material in their mother tongue, that will be beneficiary for the minority and marginalized communities and this will demand conversion of every learning tool in the Indian context.
Opinions On Overcoming The Possible Challenges
Education for the masses may be possible by rapid transition enterprise through adequate funding and co-ordination, but it is important to get local data and provide gadgets to the remote interiors, where digital learning will have a key role to play, stated Sayantan Dasgupta, associate professor, Department of Comparative Literature and Coordinator, Centre for Translation of Indian Literatures, Jadavpur University.
“For translating technical subjects, it is essential to arrive at a consensus about a list of technical terms and their equivalence in the regional languages, “he says. With 22 Scheduled Languages and 760 Languages outside it (as per the people’s Linguistic Survey ), providing indigenous course material may reduce the number of dropouts, but its implementation, going by the limited success of the National Translation Mission, has to be carefully planned,” Dasgupta explains.
While emphasizing on regional languages, courses in communicative English is a must for students to remain rooted to Indian and complete at a global level. “Since in any university, there will be always a certain percentage of students who may not have studied in the English medium, the pedagogy should be molded in such a way that both English and the local language are blended as a medium of communication,” Dasgupta concluded.
