Some of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) will start offering engineering courses in mother tongue from the next academic session starting 2021-22.
A decision was taken in this connection at a meeting presided over by Union education minister Ramesh Pohriyal Nishank on Thursday.
“A seminal decision was taken to start technical education, especially engineering courses, imparting education in mother tongue from next academic year,” the ministry said in a statement after the meeting.
Some of the IITs and the NITs are being shortlisted for implementation of the decision, it added.
Sources said while the IIT-BHU is ready to offer engineering course in Hindi, other IITs and NITs, located in various states, will be shortlisted to offer engineering programmes in the language of the respective region.
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“For example, NIT Trichy can offer engineering courses in Tamil for those who want to study in this language,” a source said.
The decision is in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which lays special emphasis on promoting of Indian languages primarily through imparting of education in the mother tongue right from the primary-school level.
At the meeting, it was also decided to revise the syllabus for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), Main, conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA).
For this, the NTA will first conduct an assessment of the “existing scenario” in various secondary school examination boards.
The decision to revise the syllabus for the JEE-Main was taken in view of the cut in the syllabus of classes 9-12 by CBSE and other boards because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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While the NTA will come up with a revised syllabus for the JEE-Main in view of the situations arising due to the pandemic, the IITs have not yet taken any decision to revise the syllabus of JEE-Advanced.
“The issue may be discussed with the IITs later,” an official source told Outlook.
The NTA conducts the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for undergraduate medical and dental courses besides the JEE-Main and other competitive exams.
“But, the testing agency cannot revise the syllabus for NEET. The National Medical Commission (NMC) will take a stand on this issue as the medical education comes under their domain,” the source added.
The education ministry, NTA and other bodies, including the University Grants Commission (UGC) drew flak from the students and parents over the conduct of various examinations this year.
To avoid any controversy, the ministry at the meeting decided to hold a wider discussion with the students, parents and teachers on the conduct of the examinations next year.
“A campaign would be launched to seek views from students, parents and teachers on how and when to conduct the exams next year,” the ministry said in a statement.
