AICTE Eyes Awareness Campaign on Engineering Courses in Regional Languages

Keeping in mind the low demand for studying engineering in regional languages with just 27% of the reserved seats having been filled as of now, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) seeks to undertake awareness initiatives in schools to attract more candidates in the 2022-2023 academic session.

The AICTE in 2021 permitted 19 technical colleges to offer specific engineering courses in regional languages following the National Education Policy 2020 which seeks to introduce regional languages as a medium of instruction. Out of these, 9 colleges provided the option of Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada. The AICTE data enumerates that only 255 seats have been filled out of the 1230 available seats for courses in regional languages. Only 50 out of the 120 seats available for courses in Tamil, 16 out of 60 seats allotted for Bengali, and 13 out of 60 seats reserved for Telugu have been filled. All the seats available for courses in Marathi were occupied whereas all the 90 seats reserved for courses in Kannada remained vacant.

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According to AICTE Chairperson Anil Dattatraya Sahasrabudhe, the two major reasons behind the low enrolment are the lack of awareness about these courses and the hesitation and fear among candidates and guardians regarding studying engineering in regional languages. States imparting school education in regional languages will be instructed to make students aware of these courses and AICTE will conduct webinars and seminars in school to develop familiarity of students with these courses. AICTE would emphasize sending translated study material to all its affiliated colleges free of cost. The council has translated all books for first-year candidates in Marathi, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada.

The Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering in Pune managed to introduce additional eight seats through the distribution of pamphlets and posters at entrance exam centers and counselling sessions for students and parents.

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