Shah’s ‘challenge’ not a new idea; South did try to teach engineering in vernacular

Amid the ongoing language war, Union Home Minister Amit Shah may have believed that he threw a challenge at Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin by asking him to impart engineering and medical education in Tamil. But in reality, Tamil Nadu — as well as Karnataka and the two Telugu states — have had a history of trying to impart technical knowledge in the respective vernacular languages.

It’s another matter that they never had much luck with it.

Tamil Nadu’s misadventure

Tamil Nadu’s misadventure with Tamil medium for engineering courses goes back merely 15 years. In 2010, Stalin’s father and then chief minister M Karunanidhi introduced Tamil as the medium of instruction for engineering courses.

Two courses — Bachelor of Engineering in Civil and Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical — were introduced in the constituent colleges of the prestigious Anna University for the academic year 2010–11. The government had also announced that a 20 per cent reservation would be provided in government jobs for students who completed their professional degree courses in Tamil medium.

Close to 150 students enrolled in these Tamil-medium engineering courses and also appeared for exams in Tamil. However, the numbers declined within a few years. Only a few students who pursued Tamil-medium engineering degrees were able to secure employment opportunities.

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A department that still exists on paper

Sources said that due to the poor response to these courses, the Tamil Nadu government reduced the funds allocated for these engineering programmes and eventually stopped new recruitments into those departments.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior professor at Anna University, who was passionately involved in designing the curriculum and vocabulary for the Tamil courses, recalled the hard work that went into the exercise.

“We spent several months and put in significant effort to develop the vocabulary and dictionary necessary for Tamil-medium engineering courses. But we soon realized that students couldn’t effectively use the language in the real engineering world, where they needed to catch up in English,” he put it plainly.

“Initially, many students who had studied in English medium at school enrolled in the Tamil-medium engineering course with high hopes. But it did not work out. Even now, the department exists only in name,” he added.

Karnataka’s twin debacles

Karnataka has had a very similar experience.

The effort to teach science subjects in Kannada medium began as early as the 1970s, when the University of Mysore, one of Karnataka’s oldest universities, introduced BSc courses in Kannada medium. Initially, a few students showed interest, but the initiative ended with the first batch due to challenges in teaching and learning.

Sudharshan SR, former deputy director of the university’s Prasaranga (Publication Department), confirmed that the initiative was discontinued once it became clear that it was impractical.

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No takers for Kannada engineering courses

Despite that, Karnataka made a fresh attempt to teach engineering in Kannada medium as recently as five years ago. However, not a single student has so far enrolled in the Kannada-medium Civil and Mechanical Engineering degree courses.

The efforts to introduce Civil and Mechanical Engineering courses in Kannada began in 2021, after the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) allowed engineering education in regional languages.

In the 2021-22 academic year, five private engineering colleges in Karnataka decided to offer BE courses in Kannada medium. Though some students initially selected these colleges during CET counselling, they later changed their mind and never took admission.

Kannada engineering education still on offer

In 2022-23, the AICTE granted approval to the SJC Institute of Technology in Chikkaballapur and Bheemanna Khandre Institute of Technology in Bhalki to offer engineering education in Kannada as well.

Only one student selected the Kannada-medium course at SJC, but did not complete the admission process by paying the fees. Similarly, at Maharaja Institute of Technology (MIT) in Mysuru, a student initially enrolled but later switched courses.

Even last year, a student registered for the Mechanical Engineering course in Kannada but later backed out and did not continue. All the three institutions mentioned continue to offer Kannada-medium engineering courses, with little result.

Also read: Why does South, except TN, have no problem with Hindi? | Talking Sense with Srini

‘Not suitable’ for a competitive world

“Studying medical or engineering courses in the mother tongue is not suitable for a competitive world. When it comes to job opportunities, students must compete with candidates from all over the country. Hence, from a career perspective, students hesitate to pursue professional courses in their mother tongue. Language should be limited to communication alone. Amit Shah’s challenge was unnecessary,” said Dr DS Poornananda, a retired professor from the Department of Journalism, Shivamogga University.

To attract students to Kannada-medium engineering education, the Kannada Development Authority (KDA) had suggested to the state government and private institutions that job reservations should be provided for Kannada-medium students. However, there has been little progress on this front.

Karnataka has never attempted to introduce medical education in Kannada. However, a higher education committee had made Kannada a mandatory language for medical students to facilitate local communication. Some institutions have taken steps in this regard.

Nizam era and Urdu medium in Telugu states

Telangana has quite an interesting history as far as using the vernacular language as the medium of instruction is concerned. Hyderabad’s Osmania University, established in 1918, was India’s first vernacular-medium university where Urdu was the medium of instruction.

Even Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore is said to have lauded the Nizam VII, Mir Osman Ali Khan, for his efforts to establish a university where an Indian language was the medium of instruction.

The university transitioned from Urdu to English medium in 1950, and the last exam in Urdu medium was conducted in 1951. However, from 1918 to 1951, even the medical and engineering courses were taught in Urdu.

Also read: ‘Hindi imposition’ row: South didn’t force North Indians to learn Tamil, says Stalin

Shift to English, and unofficially, Telugu

According to Prof. Karli Srinivasulu, a former faculty of Osmania University, Nizam VII took great interest to get the books translated into Urdu from English in all subjects. “The university even set up a translation department with an annual outlay of Rs 2 crore with the objective of making all textbooks available in Urdu,” he said.

Though the Urdu-to-English transition took place successfully in the 1950s, students were allowed to write their exams in Telugu till as recently as in 1999. “Since many of the students of the university were from a rural background, where English teaching was non-existent, students were given the opportunity to write the exams in Telugu,” said Prof. Karli.

“This unofficial arrangement continued till 1999, when Prof. DC Reddy was appointed Vice-Chancellor. He made English medium mandatory at the university level,” he added.

Only for humanities and social sciences

The story of Kakatiya University at Warangal is slightly different. “Students can write the exams in Telugu, though the teaching is done in English,” Dr Thirumathi Seshu, Associate Professor in Economics, told The Federal. However, this facility is only for students of humanities and social sciences.

More or less the same system is followed in Andhra Pradesh as well. “Since 1990, a few universities allow students, mostly from humanities and social sciences, to write the exam in Telugu,” said Prof. KS Chalam, former Vice-Chancellor of Dravidian University in Kuppam, Tirupati district.

(With inputs from Pramila Krishnan in Tamil Nadu, Sukhesha P in Karnataka, and Jinka Nagaraju in Telangana)