BTech in Marathi: How PCCOE Pune is showing the way

NEW DELHI: Prathmesh Theurkar, a third-year computer engineering (regional language) student at Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering (PCCOE), Pune, recently received an internship at a software application company, which pays him Rs 25,000 every month. He is among 34 students from his college who have received internships. But his course is different from other undergraduate BTech programmes. He has enrolled in a course that is taught in bilingual medium – the only one in all of Maharashtra.

In 2021, All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) had approved 14 engineering colleges across eight states to offer BTech courses in 11 regional languages, and PCCOE was one of them. Three years on, the institute is still running the course with full enrollment despite not receiving translated books and materials from AICTE, said Rachana Yogesh Patil, coordinator and associate professor, computer engineering regional language course, PCCOE. The cut-off for the course – the minimum rank at which admission is granted – was 96% when regular computer engineering requires an average cut-off of 99%. “We did get good-ranking students,” added Patil.

“Many institutes were facing problems in admissions and were not able to run it successfully. However, we are able to manage it. Even College of Engineering, Pune, was on the list of institutes offering regional language engineering courses, but they did not start it,” said Avinash Bhute, associate professor.

Patil added, “We have kept the curriculum similar to a general computer engineering course. What we have changed is the language – we use both English and Marathi in our teaching methodology and content delivery. Similarly, students from the batch, though a majority come from the Marathi board, are offered consistent soft and communication courses in English to help them get acquainted with English language skills”.

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PCCOE Pune and Marathi-board students

Before joining, students were concerned about the learning model. Prasad, another student from third-year computer engineering regional language programme, said, “I was concerned about the whole course being taught in Marathi as I am not proficient in the language. But early on, through seminars, we were informed that the course will be ‘bilingual’”. Many had also heard before admission that the use of Marathi as a course language was just for “namesake”.

However, many of Prasad’s classmates were from the Maharashtra State Board who were taught in Marathi and had not studied in English for the major part of their school life. “Initially, these students faced difficulty in learning English as a large part of the course was taught in English. But teachers ensured that if any student was not able to understand, they could ask and clear their doubts in Marathi. And it is mandatory for teachers to explain in Marathi, especially in this course,” added Prathmesh.

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Initially, students from Marathi background had to ask teachers to explain the concepts in Marathi. But due to mandatory soft-skill courses taught right from the very first year – like Universal Human Values, Communication, Professional Skills for Engineering and many others – inculcated soft, interpersonal, and group discussion skills, helping them be at par with other students. This helped many students to improve their English language skills, explained Prathmesh.

Bilingual BTech course

The course content and syllabus are similar to that of a general computer engineering course. “All the technical courses and terms are spoken and taught in English because it's impossible to translate them,” said Patil. All the course content, assignments are in English, barring the examination papers. “The question papers are bilingual and it is up to the students to use whichever language suits them. The aim of this course was to help students learn better in their mother tongue. Students will understand properly and remember a concept for a longer period of time if taught in their mother tongues. Language shouldn’t be the barrier,” added Patil.

Further, in terms of faculty, those who are well-versed in both English and Marathi have been teaching the Marathi computer engineering programme. “Teachers can talk in both Marathi and English, barring just the technical words,” added Bhute. Since the institute has not received the translated books since 2021, it hasn’t been able to use any Marathi material.

“Initially, we noticed that students from the Marathi medium were not being able to write the technical words in Marathi. So we hired special faculty who know both Marathi as well as English,” added Bhute.

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PCCOE Pimpri: Marathi BTech placements

For many regional-language courses, placements and industry exposure have been a concern. But at PCCOE, the placement cell ensured that all the students are treated at par. “Marathi language courses are given more senior faculty for students to understand concepts properly,” said Prasad.

As 34 students in the 2021-22 batch received internship offers, the experience of the placement process has been similar to that in other courses. “Language has not been a barrier. On the other hand, students who were from core Marathi background, have received proper training in interpersonal and English language skills because the regional language course has mandatory courses in English. This has been a plus point for students,” added Prasad.

Prathmesh said his course received more opportunities like consistent mock interviews and soft-skill training, unlike other general courses. Further, no companies that came for hiring were concerned about which language course the students were from.

“None of the companies were even aware that I came from a regional language course and eventually all the rounds happened smoothly,” he added.

He expects a pre-placement offer of around Rs. 10 lakh per annum. Half of the batch has secured internships within the range of Rs. 25,000-50,000 per month.

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Against pushback

The regional language course has received a lot of pushback from academics, especially from those teaching in one language. Neha Thombre, an activist from Maharashtra, said: “Most organisations seek world-class engineers who are well-spoken in English. Hence, teaching in the English language becomes significant. And that is because engineering is a professional course and the terms used in the courses cannot be taught in the mother tongue. Further, for students to be able to compete in the world they need to be well-spoken in English. Hence, a bilingual course may work, but definitely not in core regional language.”

Hiraman Kamble, assistant professor, Sinhgad College of Science, added that the Maharashtra government is pushing state colleges to run engineering courses in regional language. “But because engineering is a technical subject, professors are facing difficulty. Even students from English medium schools are concerned about the teaching and learning process in these courses,” added Kamble. But PCCOE is showing a way forward.