New Delhi, 19 July 2021 – The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has permitted BTech programmes to be taught in 11 regional languages. On Saturday, 17th July 2021, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan confirmed the same via his official Twitter handle.
The 11 regional languages in which BTech courses will be taught are:
| Hindi | Bengali | Kannada |
| Marathi | Assamese | Gujarati |
| Tamil | Punjabi | Malayalam |
| Telugu | Odia |
Dharmendra Pradhan tweeted, “AICTE has permitted BTech programs in 11 regional languages. PM Shri @narendramodi is committed to promoting regional languages in mainstream education. NEP stresses on this important aspect to empower students coming from diverse regions.”
14 Engineering Colleges to Teach in Regional Languages
At present,14 engineering colleges across 8 states have secured permission from AICTE to collectively admit over 1,000 students in undergraduate programmes which will be taught in 11 different regional languages. These colleges had petitioned to teach all the engineering subjects in regional languages from the new academic year 2021-22.
Now, select engineering branches of these colleges have gained approval to teach in varied regional languages from the Technical Education Regulator. These branches are:
- Computer Science (CSE)
- Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE)
- Civil Engineering (CE)
- Mechanical Engineering (ME)
- Information Technology (IT)
According to the latest reports, a total of 8 engineering colleges from 4 states would teach in the Hindi dialect. The details are as follows:
- Uttar Pradesh – 4 Colleges
- Rajasthan – 2 Colleges
- Madhya Pradesh – 1 College
- Uttarakhand – 1 College
The remaining colleges from West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra will offer the programme in Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, and Marathi, respectively.
VP Venkaiah Naidu Welcomes This Decision
Vice President of India (VP) and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, M. Venkaiah Naidu, welcomed the decision of introducing regional languages in the (above-mentioned) 14 engineering colleges on 17th July 2021. To mark the decision, the secretariat posted the tweet in 11 languages.
Through another tweet, he encouraged the idea of more engineering colleges and other technical education institutions adopting and offering courses in regional languages.
The introduction of regional languages in the higher education space is in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which encourages institutes to offer professional programmes in regional languages.
