IIT-Jodhpur to provide BTech program in Hindi as well: IIT-Jodhpur has chosen to adopt the notion starting with its forthcoming session, more than three years after the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) first voiced their concerns over the Center’s decision to teach engineering in regional languages. This month’s fresh class of undergraduates will have the choice of receiving instruction in Hindi or English.
Avinash Kumar Agarwal, the head of the institute, stated in an interview with The Indian Express on Tuesday that all programmes will have this option. The admissions procedure is still the same, but first-year students will be asked if they would prefer to learn in Hindi or English at the beginning of the school year.
Afterwards, the group will be split into two halves according to whether they would rather learn in Hindi or English. According to him, the instructor for both sections will be the same in order “to maintain consistency and rigour in education.” Students will have the option to move between sections, though.
We will split the class in accordance with the students’ comfort levels—if, for example, some are more at ease in Hindi than in English for a Physics course, the same professor will instruct both. The same professor guarantees the same level of rigour. Additionally, although the explanation will be in Hinglish (Hindi + English) rather than pure Hindi, the technical jargon used here will be in English. Our goal is to solve the comprehension gap,” Agarwal stated.
According to him, first-year undergraduate students would also have access to both languages’ versions of the study materials and assignments. The institute decided to educate in Hindi and English one and a half months ago. The Board of Governors then accepted the decision on June 28. The institute’s Senate also supported the move at its 38th meeting on June 26.
Remedial “English classes” will also be given to students in order to help them become more proficient in the language in terms of speaking, listening, reading, and writing. By the conclusion of the first year, Agarwal stated, “the goal of these classes is to ensure that students are comfortable with the English language, and they can then shift to English medium, if they wish.”
The decision made by IIT Jodhpur is in accordance with the 2020 National Education Policy, which promotes instruction in Indian languages in order to enhance comprehension and improve teaching-learning outcomes. The IITs had earlier opposed the idea, thus this move is important.
A committee was established by the Education Ministry at the beginning of 2021 to investigate the viability of IITs and NITs providing tech programmes in regional languages. The Centre was advised against the proposal at the time by the deans of some of the best IITs, who cited possible obstacles relating to job possibilities, industrial requirements, and the globalised workplace. They also emphasised the major logistical difficulties that IITs will face as a result, including as problems with instructors, textbooks, and reference materials.
When asked if choosing to receive instruction in Hindi will have an impact on the employment options open to pupils, Agarwal responded, “When students receive instruction in their mother tongue, their innate learning ability is at its highest and the concepts are clearer.” As a result, students will be learning in their mother tongue, which will improve their creativity, learning, and expression skills and make their ideas more understandable. Additionally, because we will be teaching them in English, their communication abilities will also be strengthened. After that, in their second or third year, students can switch to English, and by the time they graduate, they will have had the same training as their peers from the English batches.
“Students who do not attend English-medium schools have IQs that are on par with those of English-medium schools, but we might be losing out on talented students as well as opportunities because of a lack of accessible options.” We have chosen to provide First Year BTech courses in Hindi in order to close this gap,” he stated.
The option is now only available to IIT-Jodhpur’s new class of students beginning this year. The institute will decide whether to expand this course to second-year students based on the responses it receives. This decision has not yet been made.
