Lok Sabha Question No. 190 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-07-22
Subject: Promotion and Preservation of Linguistic Heritage
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Shri Naba Charan Majhi, Shri Shankar Lalwani, Smt. Kamaljeet Sehrawat, Dr. Alok Kumar Suman, Shri Pradeep Purohit, Shri Rajesh Naranbhai Chudasama, Shri Vishnu Dayal Ram, Shri Vijay Baghel, Dr. Jayanta Kumar Roy, Shri Balya Mama Suresh Gopinath Mhatre, Dr. Hemant Vishnu Savara, Smt. Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo, Shri Bidyut Baran Mahato, Shri Miteshbhai Rameshbhai Patel, Shri Chavda Vinod Lakhamshi, Dr. Sanjay Jaiswal, Shri Vijay Kumar Dubey, Shri Dilip Saikia, Shri Jagdambika Pal, Shri Ravindra Shukla Alias Ravi Kishan, Smt. Smita Uday Wagh, Shri Dharambir Singh, Shri Manoj Tiwari, Shri Bhartruhari Mahtab

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.190

ANSWERED ON 22.07.2024

## Promotion and Preservation of Linguistic Heritage

190. Shri Jagdambika Pal:

Shri Ravindra Shukla Alias Ravi Kishan:

Smt. Smita Uday Wagh:

Shri Dharambir Singh:

Shri Manoj Tiwari:

Shri Bhartruhari Mahtab:

Dr. Sanjay Jaiswal:

Shri Vijay Kumar Dubey:

Shri Dilip Saikia:

Shri Naba Charan Majhi:

Shri Shankar Lalwani:

Smt. Kamaljeet Sehrawat:

Dr. Alok Kumar Suman:

Shri Pradeep Purohit:

Shri Chudasama Rajeshbhai Naranbhai:

Shri Vishnu Dayal Ram:

Shri Vijay Baghel:

Dr. Jayanta Kumar Roy:

Shri Balya Mama Suresh Gopinath Mhatre:

Dr. Hemant Vishnu Savara:

Smt. Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo:

Shri Bidyut Baran Mahato:

Shri Mitesh Patel Bakabhai:

Shri Chavda Vinod Lakhamshi:

## Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) the details as to how the New Education Policy aims at integrating technology into the new education system to promote and preserve the rich linguistic heritage of the country and the new steps taken to improve the education system in Uttar Pradesh and also to provide aid to poor and backward children for continuing their education/higher studies;
- (b) the details of the draft for Understand, Motivate, Manage, Empathise, Empower and Develop (UMMEED) guidelines including its objectives and vision;
- (c) the steps taken by the Government to leverage technology for Bhartiya languages and promote search engine localization and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;

(d) whether the Government is taking any additional steps to ensure mental health support to the students preparing for the competitive examinations and if so, the details thereof; and

(e) the steps taken by the Government to mitigate the suicide attempts by students across the country and to sensitize and create awareness for suicide prevention?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

## (DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR)

(a) to (c) National Education Policy 2020 places strong emphasis on the fusion of technology with education, particularly in the context of preserving and promoting the nation's diverse linguistic heritage/diversity. National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is running a Bhasha Sangam programme as also Machine Translation cell which is translating various  books  into  the  scheduled  languages.    All  Indian  Council  for  Technical  Education (AICTE)  and  University  Grants  Commission  (UGC)  have  leveraged  Anuvadini  App  to translate books for Under Graduate and Post Graduate courses including technical books in multiple Indian languages.    The translated books are available on eKUMBH portal.  National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) and Common University Entrance Test (CUET) have been conducted in 13 languages.  Engineering education is being imparted in certain (AICTE) approved institutions in 8 regional languages. Course material including  text  books  and  teaching  resource  are  available  on  Digital  Infrastructure  for Knowledge Sharing (DIKSHA) portal in 33 Indian Languages.

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.

The  Department  of  School  Education  &  Literacy  is  implementing  an  integrated  centrally sponsored scheme for School education- Samagra Shiksha. Under Samagra Shiksha, financial assistance is provided to States and UTs for undertaking various activities for Universalization of School Education including opening/strengthening of new schools construction of school buildings, setting up, up-gradation and running of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Avasiya Vidyalayas, provision of free uniforms, free text books to the eligible  students  at  elementary  level,  transport  allowance  and  undertaking  enrolment  & retention  drives.  Further,  special  training  for  age  appropriate  admission  of  out  of  school children  and  residential  as  well  as  non-residential  training  for  older  children,  seasonal hostels/residential camps, special training centres at worksites, are also supported to bring out of  school  children  to  the  formal  schooling  system.  Children  with  special  needs,  are  also provided financial assistance.

As regards higher education, Central Government has implemented various schemes including Rashtriya  Uchchatar  Siksha  Abhiyan  (RUSA)  for  supporting  State  Government  so  as  to improve the overall quality of State higher educational institutions by ensuring their conformity to prescribe norms and standards.  The third phase of RUSA was launch in June 2023 in the form of Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (PM-USHA) with an outlay of Rs. 12926 crore for the period 2023-24 to 2025-26 to cater to needs of educationally unserved/underserved areas.  Under RUSA, the State of Uttar Pradesh has been approved the Central share of Rs. 553.88 crore out of which Rs.496.58 crore has been released till date. Under PM-USHA scheme, the State of Uttar Pradesh has been approved total Central share amounting to Rs. 597.035 crore.

The details of the draft for Understand, Motivate, Manage, Empathise, Empower and Develop (UMMEED) are available on the website of Department of School Education & Literacy viz. https://dsel.education.gov.in.

(d) &(e):  The Government is taking multi-pronged measures to provide psychological support to students, teachers and families for mental and emotional well-being to avoid incidences of suicide.

NCERT has developed and launched National Curriculum Framework for the Foundational Stage (NCF-FS) and National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE). NCFFS was launched on 20th October, 2022 while NCF-SE was launched on 20th February 2023. Both the NCFs integrate the mental well-being of students.

Further, Ministry of Education (MoE), has launched an initiative, Manodarpan, with the aim to provide psychosocial support to students, their families and teachers across the country, for mental  health  and  well-being  during  the  times  of  COVID-19  and  beyond.  All  activities undertaken under the Manodarpan initiative are aimed towards supporting the   mental    health and well-being of students from schools, colleges and universities, including those students who are preparing for competitive examinations.

UGC has also issued Guidelines for Promotion of Physical Fitness, Sports, Student's Health, Welfare, Psychological and Emotional Well- being at HEIs on 13.04.2023, which provides for promoting  physical  fitness  and  sports  activities  for  students;  creating  safeguards  against academic pressure, peer pressure, behavioral issues, stress, career concerns, depression and other issues on the mental health of students; to teach positive thinking & emotions in the student community; and to promote a positive and supportive network for students.

The Ministry on 10.07.2023 has also circulated a broad framework for emotional and mental well-being of students in HEIs with request to take proactive measures to incorporate the same in the institutional functioning and instill a feeling of confidence in the student community.

Accordingly, IIT Delhi, IIT Gandhinagar, IIT Madras and IIT Guwahati organized Workshops on Mental Wellness & Stress Management, on 30th May, 2023, 9-10th June, 2023, 12th May, 2023  and  26th  August  2023  respectively.    Inter  IIT  Wellness  Meet  was  organized  by  IIT Roorkee  on  13th-14th  February,  2024,  and  Indian  Institute  of  Technology,  Gandhinagar (IITGN) hosted a two-day workshop on students' mental well-being titled 'Building Scalable Systems for Student Wellbeing in Residential Programs' in its campus on March 4-5, 2024.

Department  of  Higher  Education  has  conceptualized  a  Capacity  Building  Programme  for Promoting Positive Mental Health, Resilience & Wellbeing in HEIs under Integrated approach for Promoting Positive Mental Health, Resilience & Wellbeing in HEIs. The program aims for sustained capacity building of faculty in HEIs, providing a platform for sharing of best practices and collaborating with panel of experts to focus on mental health & wellbeing of the students in HEIs.

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