Engineering Education in Mother Tongue and Local Languages Will Be an Instrument of Empowerment: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on the importance of local languages in higher education while addressing the 36th Indian Engineering Congress on December 27, 2021 said that engineering education in mother tongue and local languages will be an instrument of empowerment. 

The 36th IEC or Indian Engineering Congress was arranged by the Institution of Engineers (India) or IEI in Delhi. Education Minister commented on how engineering education should just not be concerned with the degree, he further stated:

“We must collectively work towards removing language barriers in the learning process and building capacity of our engineering community.”

Engineering education should not be restricted to awarding of degrees. We must collectively work towards removing language barriers in the learning process and building capacity of our engineering community.

— Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) December 27, 2021

Referring to how India has always remained an empowering country, Pradhan stressed on the importance of remembering India as a rich land of people with scientific knowledge and enormous engineering capabilities. He urged Indians to think of its history and scientific evidence of water management system, structure and development, marine engineering, etc. and praised IEI for nurturing that golden tradition of engineering education, aiding the development of an “Atma Nirbhar Bharat”.

The minister also emphasised on the significance of developing the start-up culture, creating several vacancies using the MSME-based manufacturing so that India can lead towards a $5 trillion economy system. According to him: 

“Engineering education should not be restricted to awarding of degrees. We must collectively work towards removing language barriers in the learning process and building capacity of our engineering community.”

Indicating towards the vision and mission of the NEP 2020, Pradhan also stressed on the significance of integrating theoretical knowledge with practical skills, following a multidisciplinary approach and incorporating practical skills into the curriculum to prepare the young engineers for the upcoming projects happening in India and across the world. He ended his speech by referring to the importance of developing a knowledge system focused on the integration of practical and theoretical knowledge, innovation and building knowledge sharing systems going beyond the restriction of language so that the field of entrepreneurship can continue to be enriched. 

Earlier, in the Techspectations EDUCATE Summit 2021, the Union Education Minister had mentioned how NEP would transform our education landscape as per the needs of modern India. 

In November 2020, the Union Education Ministry announced that many engineering colleges will offer education in regional languages from the academic year 2021-2022. Later, in July this year, AICTE approved fourteen engineering colleges across eight states to start engineering courses in regional languages. Out of these four colleges from Uttar Pradesh, two from Rajasthan and one each from Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand will start teaching in Hindi. 

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