AICTE permits 14 engineering colleges to offer BTech in regional languages

NEW DELHI: The All India Council for Technical Education has approved 14 engineering colleges across eight states in the country to offer select BTech courses in regional languages in the new academic year.

In line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the BTech courses will be taught in 11 regional languages including Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, Malayalam, Bengali, Assamese, Punjabi and Odia. The education ministry had appointed two committees including AICTE to study the feasibility of engineering in regional languages.

The Vice President, M Venkaiah Naidu has welcomed the decision and expressed his desire that more engineering colleges and other technical education institutions should offer courses in regional languages.

The Vice President, Shri M Venkaiah Naidu has welcomed the decision of 14 engineering colleges across 8 states to offer courses in regional languages in select branches from the new academic year.

— Vice President of India (@VPSecretariat) July 17, 2021

On this decision, Union education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan wrote on social media: “Prioritising learning in Indian languages and advancing PM Narendra Modi's vision of developing an ecosystem of technological education in local languages, 14 engineering colleges across 8 states will admit students in courses in regional languages from the new academic year.”

Gratitude to Hon. Vice President for welcoming the decision to offer courses in regional language in engineering colleges. AICTE has permitted https://t.co/j5QnWGXeP7 programs in 11 regional languages. https://t.co/EOfzwOt9i5

— Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) July 17, 2021

Last year in November, the former education minister had announced that the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) will start offering engineering courses in mother tongue from next academic year. In a high-level meeting, a few IITs and NITs were expected to be shortlisted to offer these courses in regional languages.

Anna University already offers Tamil-medium engineering courses in 11 constituent colleges. The university offers the Tamil courses in only two departments, civil engineering and mechanical engineering. Students are given the option to write the exams in either English or Tamil.

The AICTE has also translated 521 course materials on the central government’s e-learning platform, SWAYAM into eight regional Indian languages for students in rural areas.

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