FPJ Exclusive: After medical, Maharashtra pushes for Engineering in Marathi

Mumbai: Home Minister Amit Shah launching text books for MBBS in Hindi has triggered a domino effect, with Indian states, one after the other, unveiling plans to nurse higher education in their regional tongues. Maharashtra is officially set to join the league next week when the state’s engineering and polytechnic students will receive the first set of Marathi textbooks.

As devised by Minister for Higher and Technical Education Chandrakant Patil, officials from the All India Council of Technical Education, Directorate of Technical Education, and the State Government are to inaugurate 20 Marathi textbooks for the first years of these STEM courses on Nov 14.

“When students learn in their mother tongue, they are likely to grasp concepts faster,” Dr Abhay Wagh, Director of the DTE, said. “Educating students in regional languages has also been highlighted as a key component of the National Education Policy 2020.”

Original textbooks translated by AICTE

The original engineering textbooks, authored by professors from the Indian Institutes of Technology and the National Institute of Technology in English, have been translated and published by the AICTE. Several colleges in Maharashtra are to receive one set of these books. There are a total of 11 textbooks translated for diploma students, and nine for undergraduates.