Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu lauds 14 engg colleges for offering courses in regional languages

HYDERABAD: LAUDING the move of 14 engineering colleges across eight States to offer courses in regional languages, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu has urged more educational institutions, particularly those imparting technical and professional studies, to follow suit.

He affirmed that providing courses in regional languages will serve as a boon to students. Expressing his fervent desire, Naidu said, "It is my desire to see the day when all vocational and professional courses, like engineering, medicine and law, are taught in mother languages."

In a Facebook post titled 'Engineering courses in mother language—A step in the right direction', posted in 11 Indian languages on Wednesday, the VP expressed his happiness over the decision of the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to permit BTech programmes in 11 native languages—Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, Malayalam, Bengali, Assamese, Punjabi and Odia.

He also welcomed the decision of the 14 engineering colleges to offer regional languages in select branches from the new academic year. He said, "I strongly believe that it is a step in the right direction." Referring to the benefits of learning in mother tongue, Naidu said it enhances one's grasping and comprehension levels. "To understand a subject in another language, one has to first learn and master that language, which needs a lot of effort.

However, this is not the case while learning in one's mother tongue," he added. Emphasizing on the significance of mother language, he said, "Our mother language or our native language is very special to us, as we share an umbilical cord relationship with it." Citing a UN report that one language in the world becomes extinct every two weeks, Naidu expressed concern that 196 Indian languages were endangered.

He said, "There is a need for adopting a multipronged approach to protect our native languages and promote learning in mother tongue." Naidu called upon people to learn as many languages as they can. He said that proficiency in different languages would provide an edge in today's inter-connected world. "With every language we learn, we deepen our connection with another culture," he added.

He said many studies across the world have established that teaching in mother tongue in initial stages of education boosts a child's self-esteem and enhances his/her creativity. The VP said the government alone could not bring about the desired change.

"People's participation to protect our beautiful languages is critical to strengthen this thread of connectivity for our future generations." Noting the hesitancy amongst people to communicate in their mother tongue, Naidu urged people to speak in their mother tongue not only at home but wherever possible. He said, "Languages thrive and survive only when used extensively.