Now, 14 engineering colleges to teach in regional languages officially

After the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) permitted BTech programs in 11 regional languages, 14 engineering colleges from eight states of India opted to teach engineering courses in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Bengali from the new academic year.

Shiksha spoke with officials of some of the institutes that have secured permission from the AICTE to teach courses in regional languages to know how they are planning to implement the same.

Andhra's NRI Instititue of Technology to teach BTech in Telugu  

Dr Magabhaskar, Principal, NRI Institute of Technology, Andhra Pradesh, said, “We are offering computer science engineering course in Telugu language for 60 seats from this 2021-22 academic year.”

When asked if they are planning to recruit new faculty to teach the course in Telugu, he said, “In first year, we have physics, maths and chemisty, so there won’t be much requirement from outside. But there will technical subjects in the second year, then we have to recruit specialised faculty if required. The fee structure will be same.”

He said, “Students who would opt for regional langauge will be taught along with students who opt for English. Teachers will teach in both languages simultaneously.”

Majority of our staff is from North belt, so language won’t not be a challenge: Poornima Institute of Engineering & Technology 

Dr Neeraj Jain, Director, Admissions, Poornima Institute of Engineering & Technology, Jaipur, said, “Two of our institutes – Poornima Institute of Engineering & Technology, Jaipur and Poornima College of Engineering, Jaipur – have opted to offer computer science and engineering course for 60 seats in Hindi. Generally, 60-70 per cent of our students come from Hindi background schools, so we used to teach them in both Hindi and English in their first and second year. It is not new for us. We will now officially teach our students in Hindi. Rajasthan Technical University (RTU) to which both our colleges are affiliated will have to take certain steps to make the syllabus, question papers and evaluation process in Hindi.”

“We are determined to start this from this academic year, which will begin on October 20. It now depends on the RTU, how they support it and take it further. If the student intake increases, we will definitely recruit more employees. As the majority of our staff is from the North belt, so language will be not be a challenge.”

He added, “Students who will opt for Hindi will be taught separately. Also, we will convert manuals and study material displayed in labs in Hindi after we get a green signal from the RTU. There will no change in fee structure.”

Below is the list of 14 colleges that received AICTE approval to teach in regional languages: 

College	BTech Course	Language	Total Seats
Poornima Institute of Engineering & Technology, Jaipur	Computer Science Engineering	Hindi	60
NRI Institute of Technology, AP	Computer Science Engineering	Telugu	60
GL Balaji Institute of Technology & Management, Greater Noida	Computer Science Engineering Information Technology	Hindi	60 + 60
Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering, Maharashtra	Computer Science Engineering	Marathi	60
Institute of Engineering & Science IPS Academy, Indore	Computer Science Engineering	Hindi	60
Technique Polytechnic Institute, Hooghly	Electrical Engineering	Bengali	60
Erode Sengunthar Engineering College, Tamil Nadu	Civil Engineering Electrical & Electronics Engineering Mechanical Engineering	Tamil	30 + 30 + 30
Rathinam Technical Campus, Tamil Nadu	Computer Science Engineering	Tamil	60
College of Engineering Pune	Electrical Engineering Civil Engineering	Marathi	30 + 30
Pranveer Singh Institute of Technology, Kanpur	Computer Science Engineering	Hindi	60
Ajay Kumar Garg Engineering College, Ghaziabad	Computer Science Engineering	Hindi	60
Poornima College of Engineering, Jaipur	Computer Science Engineering	Hindi	60
Noida College of Engineering & Technology, Greater Noida	Computer Science Engineering	Hindi	60
Graphic Era (Deemed to be) University, Dehradun	Computer Science Engineering Electronics & Communication Engineering Mechanical Engineering	Hindi	60 + 60 + 60
Total			1,050

We have provided support system in 8 Indian languages: AICTE Chairman 

While talking to Shiksha.com, AICTE Chairman Prof Anil Sahasrabudhe said, “AICTE has permitted teaching of engineering in any Indian language. However, we have provided support system in eight Indian languages to start with. They are Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati and Bengali. Out of these, 14 colleges have opted for following languages: Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, and Bengali. AICTE wishes to expand facilitation further to three more languages of Punjabi, Assamese, and Odiya.

He said, “The courses range from civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electronics, computer science and Information technology.”

He went on to add, “Course curriculum is already available. AICTE is empowering by way of translating MOOC courses of SWAYAM available in English into different languages. Further, original and translation of books in the Indian languages are being done to provide further support.”

On being asked if it have any impact on placement as English is an important factor while hiring engineers, Prof Anil Sahasrabudhe said, “The students learning engineering shall study all courses in Indian languages but the technical and scientific words would not be translated but used as they are in English. Secondly, all students shall go through an English language course throughout four years. Further, permission is granted only in those colleges where these programmes are accredited. That means there is no dilution of quality, technical terms are learnt in English itself and English speaking, writing capability too is developed during the four years. Hence, there shall be no effect on employability."

Read more:

• AICTE revises 2021 academic calendar, classes to begin in October