The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has released outcome-based educational books in Marathi for diploma and undergraduate engineering courses. Dr. Subhas Sarkar, Union Minister of State for Education, and Dr. Chandrakant Patil, Minister of Higher and Technical Education, Government of Maharashtra, ceremonially released the books at Mumbai University’s Kalina Campus.
On the occasion, AICTE outcome-based books were also ceremoniously distributed to twelve heads of various educational institutions and twelve students. Vice-Chancellors, Coordinators, Translators, and Reviewers from Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University in Lonere, Maharashtra, who collaborated with AICTE on this Marathi book translation project, were honoured.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Sarkar said, AICTE has taken the initiative of making engineering books available in Indian Languages in alignment with guidelines enshrined in the National Education Policy 2020. “Giving priority to local languages in the NEP manifests our commitment to all regional languages. We consider Indian languages the soul of Bharatiyata and the link to a better future”, he further said. He also said, “Language is so much more than just a tool allowing us to communicate. It is the expression of culture, society, beliefs, and traditions. I would like to congratulate all universities of Maharashtra for taking all steps for translation and other related activities.” Technically advanced countries like France, Germany, South Korea, and others had amply displayed that we can achieve the global standards in our mother tongues, he added. “It acts as a catalyst for inclusive development”.
NEP 2020 envisages many things for overall development of students, which includes imparting education in Indian languages for ease of understanding and encouraging students for research, said the Union Minister. He also mentioned, as per this vision of NEP, technical education has been redefined by introducing human values in it.
UGC and AICTE Chairman Prof. M. Jagadesh Kumar said, “When Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose was admitted to a Bengali medium school by his father. We know Bose was described as a person who was 16 years ahead of his contemporaries. You’ll find that in the countries where noble prizes are won, their education from school to PhD is provided in vernacular languages”