NATIONAL : The Government of India has directed schools and higher education institutions to provide study material for all courses in Indian languages digitally within the next three years, officials said on Friday.
In a decision aimed at providing students with the opportunity to study in their own language, the Government of India has decided that study material for all courses under school and higher education will be made available digitally in Indian languages included in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution.
In an order issued by the Ministry of Education today, the government has directed all school and higher education regulators like UGC, AICTE, NCERT, NIOS, IGNOU, and heads of INIs like IITs, CUs, and NITs to make study material in Indian languages available for all courses in the next three years.
UGC, AICTE, and the Department of School Education have also been asked to take up the issue with regard to state schools and universities, the MoE said in a statement.
The above directions emerge from the recommendations of the National Education Policy for promoting multilingualism in education at every level, so that students get the opportunity to study in their own language, and can have better learning outcomes, it said.
Studying in one’s own language can provide a student the natural space to think innovatively without any language barrier, it added.
The Education Ministry also said that the NEP-2020 strongly conveys the idea that the multilingual nature of Bharat is its huge asset and strength which needs to be utilized efficiently for the socio-cultural, economic, and educational development of the Nation.
Content creation in local languages will boost this multilingual asset and pave the way for its better contribution to ‘Viksit Bharat’ to make our country a developed nation by 2047, it said.
The government has already been working in this direction during the past two years, with the translation of Engineering, Medical, Law, UG, PG, and Skill books being done through the Anuvadini AI-based App,” the ministry said.
“These books are available on the Ekumbh portal. In the school education ecosystem also study material is available in multiple Indian languages including over 30 languages on DIKSHA. Competitive exams like JEE, NEET, and CUET are being held in 13 Indian languages,” it said.