NEW DELHI: The University Grants Commission (UGC) is working on providing textbooks at undergraduate level in Arts, Science, Commerce and Social Sciences in 12 Indian languages. “We are identifying nodal universities in different states who will coordinate the exercise of forming teams of authors who can write high quality textbooks in Indian languages,” said UGC chairman Prof. M Jagadesh Kumar.
He added that this effort is in tune with National Education Policy (NEP) 2020’s goal to provide learning opportunities to students in universities in Indian languages. In this regard, the UGC has issued a notice inviting interested authors to register with UGC so that they can participate in writing original textbooks in 12 Indian languages.
A letter issued by UGC secretary Prof. Manish R Joshi said that the UGC invites Expression of Interest (EoI) from interested authors, critics and faculty members of Higher Educational Institutes (HEIs) for writing original textbooks in 12 Indian languages for the undergraduate (UG) level courses in the different subjects pertaining to Arts, Science and Social Sciences.
“Interested authors/critics/faculty members of HEls may send their acceptance to the Commission and furnish their Expression of Interest (EOI) through the form available at the following link latest by 30 January, 2024 (midnight),” said the letter dated January 11. The 12 Indian languages for which EoI has been invited are Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.
NEP recommends the teaching of Indian languages with English and other foreign languages. NEP envisages the promotion of Indian languages through regular use, preparation of pedagogical materials, training of teachers, adoption of mother tongues as medium of instruction, innovative methods, judicious use of technology and development of positive attitude towards all languages and their remarkable unity.
Medium of education
The 12 Indian languages for which EoI has been invited are Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. NEP recommends teaching of Indian languages with English and other foreign languages. It envisages the promotion of Indian languages through regular use, preparation of pedagogical materials and training of teachers.