Centre exploring feasibility of multilingual textbooks across major Indian languages

The cost of such textbooks, however, is high

The Centre is exploring options of introducing multilingual textbooks across major Indian languages, according to government officials. Chamu Krishna Shastry, chairperson of the high-powered Committee for Promotion of Indian Languages, said that a study is being conducted to explore the feasibility of making such textbooks available across various mediums of study.

The books will have the course material in English on one page and in the regional language on the other page so that the student can compare the two, Shastry told DH. “This will help them prepare better, and will be immensely helpful for students who have completed their studies in their mother tongue,” Shastry said.

However, he said that the Committee’s study had shown that the cost of such textbooks is high. “We are trying to find out if providing the textbook digitally can help offset the high cost,” Shastry said.

The study, Shastry said, is further surveying what is currently available in textbooks across mediums in the country. “The study is looking at how many mediums of teaching are there, how many languages are they taught in, and where can we bridge the gap,” he said.

Shastry added that the study was exploring feasible ways of to prepare textbooks in any regional language. “Our options are to either to write the book in the regional language completely, or translate it manually, or to translate it through a tool and then edit it. We are also looking at various ways of publishing it – should we involve private players to print them, or involve government bodies, or release these books digitally,” he said.

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He said that the study’s mandate was to bring about a level-playing field for students who have studied till class 10 or 12 in their mother tongue. “Over 90 per cent of students learn in their mother tongue till the higher secondary level, and when they want to pursue a course in the science, commerce or technical streams, they have to take up English as their medium of instruction," he said.

Such students often experience dips in confidence and then depression sets in, he said. "The standard and options available in English in different domains of study should be available in Indian languages as well. Students from remote areas should be able to get as many opportunities as children in English medium schools,” Shastry said. He added that the National Education Policy 2020, which emphasises learning in regional languages, has mentioned Indian languages 30 times.

The high-powered Committee, formed in November last year under the Ministry of Education, has recently announced that over 75 law textbooks across 12 Indian regional languages will be available by the end of the year. The Committee is already in conversation with the National Medical Commission (NMC) to come up with medical textbooks in regional languages.

Last week, Home Minister Amit Shah released medical textbooks in Hindi in Madhya Pradesh. The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has already prepared engineering books for the first year across 12 languages, and work on producing books for the second year is currently going on.