Allow students to write exams in local languages: UGC to universities

The Centre has asked all higher education institutions to allow students to write answers in their mother tongue. The University Grants Commission, in a letter to the vice chancellors of all universities on Wednesday, has asked that students be allowed to write answers in their regional languages even when the course is offered in the English language.

Additionally, universities have been asked to promote the translation of original writing in local languages, and use that in the “teaching-learning process” in universities.

To that end, universities have been asked to send a discipline-wise list of all textbooks, study material and reference books used in local languages, as well as a list of topics on which regional textbooks or student material will be required. A list of faculty, subject experts, and scholars who can translate the material in local languages for the institute or university has also been asked by the UGC.

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Institutes have also been asked to give details of the availability of local publishers for printing the required textbooks, a detailed plan for bringing in student material in local languages, and details of whether children in the institute or university can write answers in local languages.

UGC chairperson M Jagadesh Kunar said that the promotion and regular use of Indian languages in education is a “crucial area of focus” as per the National Education Policy 2020. “The policy emphasizes the importance of teaching and instruction in the mother tongue/ local languages. It lays thrust on the need to optimize communication in all Indian languages for better cognitive attainment and the development of a holistic personality of the learners,” Kumar said.

Learning in local languages has benefited students from socially and economically disadvantageous groups, and teaching in local languages will lead student engagements to increase. “This will significantly strengthen the efforts of achieving the envisioned target of enhancing the GER in higher education from 27% to 50% by 2035,” Kumar wrote in the letter to VCs.