Education ministry approves setting up five centres of excellence in classical languages

The Ministry of Education (MoE) has approved setting up five Centres of Excellence for studies in classical Assamese, Bengali, Pali, Marathi and Prakrit. The education ministry has approved centres of excellence at Visva-Bharati University, Deccan College, Tezpur University, and the central universities of Odisha and Gujarat

The five centres will be set up to strengthen academic research, digitisation, preservation, and dissemination of the heritage of the classical languages.

Following the announcement Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi posted on X and said: "A proud moment for Odisha and a significant step towards preserving India's rich linguistic heritage. The Ministry of Education's approval of a Centre of Excellence for Classical Pali at the Central University of Odisha will strengthen the study, preservation and promotion of Pali, a language deeply connected with India's intellectual, spiritual and cultural traditions."

"This Centre will further strengthen Odisha's contribution to preserving India's civilisational knowledge and linguistic heritage. My congratulations to the Central University of Odisha and everyone associated with this important initiative," he added.

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Five Centres of Excellence

The five universities where the Centres of Excellence will be set up are shown in the table below.