UGC instructs higher educational institutions to start courses in mother tongue

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has instructed all universities and higher educational institutions to start courses in their mother tongue or local language. A letter was issued by the commission on January 27 regarding the same.

The letter read, “The programme to start courses in the mother tongue will be launched in February-March 2024 in collaboration with the Indian Language Committee to train teachers. For this, the UGC has asked all institutions to appoint one teacher each who will be trained as a master trainer. After that, they will train other teachers of the institute.”

“The initiative will increase the gross enrolment ratio (GER) of higher education in the country, which is currently around 25 per cent. The new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 aims to increase it to 50 per cent by 2035. At present, a large number of students in the country cannot pursue higher education because of the language barrier,” the UGC said in the letter.

The UGC has advised all higher educational institutions to check the study materials prepared in the local or mother tongue so that the students can understand the subject properly.

“Language will now no longer be a barrier for students. Through this initiative students would be able to learn different subjects in their mother tongue,” said Prof Madhavi Das, a senior educationist from Pune.