Team Bharat Education 
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Published on:
Apr 29, 2024
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The All India Council forTechnical Education (AICTE) has directed all technical universities to initiate steps forpreparing bilingual exam papers:in English and a local language. Ithas also instructed teachers to uselocal languages while communicating with the students in classro-oms. This will help students whohave had schooling in a regional language. Recognising the diverse linguistic landscape of India, the AICTE move is aligned with NEP 2020, which underscores the importance of the mother tongue and increasing the use of local language in the teaching learning process. Nowadays, all entrance exams in the country arebeing conducted in Indian languages. Similarly, we have asked all technicaluniversities to conduct exams in alocal language along with English.The students will be allowed to Answwee the questions in regional languaes to; it is just to facilitate regional students with limited proficiency in english to adust to new environment. There is an initial hesition among students kwho come form regional and state boards to ask questions in classroom or write exams. This will help bridge the gap and build confience, says Rajive Kumar, member secretary, AICTE.
For a long time, institutes have taken it as a rule to conduct classes and exams in English; AICTE has no rule which says the medium of instruction should be English. To bring about a cultural change, we have requested the institutes to prepare questions in local langu- ages; however, we have not made it mandatory. The universities can take help of Anuvadini, a voice and document Al translation tool, by the AICTE, to translate the questions. It is totally up to the universities,he says.
Furthermore, the AICTE has promoted technical education in Indian languages by allocating additional seats for UG and diploma engineering courses conducted in regional languages. Kumar says there has been an increase in the number of takers for the last two years, however, bringing about changes in the system needs time. For now, the AICTE initiative is just to bring awareness among institutes and students, he says. The students can visit AICTE portal, eKUMBH, which offers books in regional languages for first and second year students enrolled in Computer Science, Electrical, Mechanical branches. Over 11 scheduled languages have been covered like Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Odia, etc. The AICTE has also provided hard copies of first year books to colleges for the ease of students, adds Kumar.
In Tamil Nadu, government has provided 20% reservation in jobs and higher studies for those coming through Tamil medium UG courses. Textbooks in Tamil medium have been prepared, however, teaching, learning, and consulting materials in Tamil are not adequately available, suited for PG and research programmes in these subjects, says PV Navaneethakrishnan, former professor and director, Entrance Exams and Admission, Anna University, Chennai.
As per Union minister Subhash Sarkar, the number of students enrolled in the BE/BTech programmes in the 11 regional languages were 928 in 2023-24, 683 in 2022-21 and 245 in 2021-20. Compared to the total number of candidates admitted in BE/ BTech programmes, which was 36.6 lakh in 2020-21, the enrolment in regional language streams remains relatively small.
Ensuring accurate translation of technical terms and concepts is crucial. Poor translation could lead to misunderstandings and confusion among students. Maintaining consistency and standardisation in bilingual question papers across different universities and regions may pose challenges, particularly regarding language proficiency and technical accuracy, says Prof Shukla, adding that implementing bilingual question papers will also require additional resources, including training for faculty, translation services, and printing materials in multiple languages, which could pose logistical challenges. It is essential to maintain fairness in grading, regardless of the language in which the exam is taken. Overall, while the initiative has the potential to enhance incluUAvite Arte Rmical education, its success will depend on effective implementation, adds Shukla.
Published By: Education Times
Date:29.04.2024
