President Droupadi Murmu launches e-KUMBH portal in Bhubaneswar
The Hindu
President Murmu lauds National Education Policy-2022 for giving importance to regional languages.
President Droupadi Murmu on Friday, November 11, 2022 launched e-KUMBH (Knowledge Unleashed in Multiple Bharatiya Languages) portal in which engineering courses and books would be available in 12 scheduled Indian languages.
Ms. Murmu also released engineering books of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) in Odia language and glossary of 50,000 technical terms in Odia language developed by Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology (CSTT)
“These are commendable steps in the direction of making education accessible to all. It has been observed that many students face difficulty in understanding technical education in English. That is why under the National Education Policy-2020, the government has taken steps to provide technical education in the regional languages,” said the President.
Ms. Murmu asserted that there is no doubt that mother tongue helps intellectual development in students and learning in mother tongue would develop creative thinking and analytical skills among students providing equal opportunities to urban and rural students.
Stating that technical education in regional languages used to face hurdles due to non-availability of textbooks in vernacular languages, she appreciated AICTE for its efforts in removing this hurdle.
“We must ensure that each and every child in our country has access to education at every level. We have to do our best to make the education available to all without any discrimination. Language should be an enabling factor not a hindrance for educating the students. The introduction of learning in regional and local languages would go a long way towards building a well-educated, aware and vibrant society,” said Ms. Murmu in her address.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan informed that AICTE had completed translation of engineering courses available only in English in 12 scheduled Indian languages. Engineering books have been translated in Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Kannada, Punjabi, Odia and Assamese while book translation in Urdu and Malayalam languages is underway.