Lok Sabha Question No. 2239 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-08-05
Subject: Medium of Instructions in Institute of Higher Education
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Shri Ajay Bhatt

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

## DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-2239

ANSWERED ON - 05/08/2024

## MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTIONS IN INSTITUTE OF HIGHER EDUCATION

† 2239  Shri Ajay Bhatt:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  medium  of  instructions  in  most  of  the  higher  education courses are in English, due to which rural students are deprived of higher and technical education and if so, the details thereof; (b) the  details  of  courses  of  higher  education  in  which  the  medium  of instructions are Hindi and regional languages; (c) whether  any  efforts  have  been  made  to  make  the  Hindi  and  regional of
- languages medium in medical colleges and Indian Institutes Management (IIMs); and
- (d) if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

(DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR)

(a) to (d) :  The National Education Policy, 2020 lays lot of stress on promoting multilingualism  and  making  efforts  to  keep  Indian  languages  vibrant.    NEP provides,  wherever  possible,  for  medium  of  instruction  to  be  in  the  home language/ mother tongue/ local language/ regional language upto at least class 5 and preferably upto class 8. The policy also provides for making available high quality text books in home language/ mother tongue and encouraging teachers to use bilingual approach while teaching. In order to achieve this objective the Government is integrating multilingualism at school and higher education levels by providing reading materials in Indian languages so that students have the

-2- choice to study in their mother tongue/local language.  NEP-2020 places strong emphasis leveraging technology for strengthening various facets of education including preserving and promoting the nation's diverse linguistic heritage/diversity. Higher Educational Institutions are free to impart education through  any  language  as  per  needs  and  local  condition.  For  leveraging technology for Bharatiya Bhashas, National Council of Educational Research and  Training  (NCERT)  is  running  a  Bhasha  Sangam  programme  as  also  a Machine Translation Cell which is translating various books into the scheduled languages.  Course material including text books and teaching resource are available on Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing (DIKSHA) portal   in 33   Indian Languages.  In order to further facilitate education through Indian languages, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has also asked its affiliated  schools  to  consider  using  Indian  languages,  as  enumerated  in  the Schedule  8  of  the  Indian  Constitution,  as  the  medium  of  instruction  from Foundational state till end of Secondary stage i.e. from pre-primary classes till class XII as an optional medium in addition to other existing options.  All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and University Grants Commission (UGC) have leveraged Anuvadini App to translate books for Under Graduate and Post Graduate courses and Technical books like engineering and law in multiple Indian languages.  The translated books are available on e-KUMBH portal.  UGC and AICTE have issued guidelines for preparation of text books and  supporting  the  teaching-learning  process  in  the  mother  tongue/local languages.  Technical education is being imparted in certain AICTE approved institutions in various languages which is at Annexure.  ASMITA (Augmenting Study  Materials  in  Indian  Languages  through  Translation  and  Academic Writing)  is  a  new  initiative  by  University  Grants  Commission  (UGC)  towards promotion  of  Indian  languages  in  Higher  Educational  Institutions.    National Eligibility  cum  Entrance  Test  (NEET)  has  been  conducted  in  13  languages. Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) is now conducted in 13 languages.

Ministry of Electronics and  Information  Technology  (MEITY)  has launched  Mission  Digital  India  Bhashini  in  the  year  2022  to  develop  core language technologies for speech and text translation for 22 Scheduled Indian languages in the open source. The Bhashini open Application Programming Interface (APIs) for language translation in text and voice have been listed on API  Setu  (https://apisetu.gov.in).  Bhashini  APIs  are  available  for  anyone  to integrate with any application.

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## ANNEXURE

ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  to  (d)  OF  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.2239  ANSWERED  ON  5.8.2024 ASKED  BY SHRI AJAY BHATT, HON'BLE M.P. REGARDING 'MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTIONS IN INSTITUTE OF HIGHER EDUCATION'

Technical Education imparted in AICTE Institutions in various languages: -

|           | ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY   | ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY   | ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY   | MANAGEMENT    | MANAGEMENT     | MANAGEMENT   | MCA            |       |
|-----------|------------------------------|------------------------------|------------------------------|---------------|----------------|--------------|----------------|-------|
| Languages | DIPLOMA                      | UNDER GRADUATE               | Total                        | POST GRADUATE | UNDER GRADUATE | Total        | UNDER GRADUATE | Total |
| Gujarati  |                              | 1                            | 1                            |               |                |              |                | 1     |
| Hindi     | 1                            | 16                           | 17                           |               |                |              | 2              | 19    |
| Kannada   |                              | 2                            | 2                            |               | 1              | 1            | 1              | 4     |
| Marathi   | 3                            | 4                            | 7                            | 1             |                | 1            |                | 8     |
| Tamil     | 7                            | 2                            | 9                            |               |                |              |                | 9     |
| Telugu    |                              | 2                            | 2                            |               |                |              | 1              | 3     |
| Total     | 11                           | 27                           | 38                           | 1             | 1              | 2            | 4              | 44    |