Union Education and Skill Development Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday attended the MoU signing ceremony of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Institute of Odia Study and Research (IOSR) for introducing Engineering education in Odia language.
Addressing the gathering Shri Pradhan said the collaboration will help in developing the study materials for engineering education in Odia language. “One of the biggest recommendations of National Education Policy(NEP)-2020 is imparting education in mother tongue,” said Shri Pradhan.
He said that NEP stresses on invoking the critical thinking in a child, which can only be possible through local language. “The engineering study in local language will also open gates for innovation and large-scale employability,” Shri Pradhan added.
Shri Pradhan said, “There should not be any misconception that studying in mother tongue gives us disadvantage. All the developed countries, be it Japan, China, Italy, Germany, promote and use their local language only and they are highly developed”.
Citing the examples of developed countries, the union education minister proposes to develop a Center of Excellence for Foreign Languages in Bhubaneswar. “Such a center will be able to generate a lot of employment for our youths,” said the minister.
The minister informed that IOSR and AICTE takes up the project in philanthropic mode. “IOSR is rightly defining the meaning of ‘Siksha Daan’. Both the institutes will work together and will develop needed materials for study of engineering in Odia language,” he said.
The Minister further stressed on using language as a catalyst for transformation and education for employment. “We need to prepare a roadmap for the coming 15 years in the run up to the completion of 100 years of Odisha as the first linguistic State of India and for this four things are required to be taken care of – nutrition, language, education and employment,” Shri Pradhan said.
The MoU signing ceremony today was also attended by AICTE Chairman Prof. Anil D. Sahasrabudhe, IOSR Chairman Abasar Beuria, Member Secretary Dr. Subrat Kumar Prusty, IIT Khargapur Director Dr. Virendra Kumar Tewari and IIT Bhubaneswar Director Prof RV Rajakumar among others.
