BHUBANESWAR: Going ahead with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) plan to develop engineering course content in Odia, the Directorate of Technical Education and Training (DTET) has prepared three books of diploma engineering in the language. These are engineering physics, engineering chemistry and engineering mechanics in first year basic diploma curriculum. Books on other subjects will be written or translated in Odia in a phased manner. The DTET has been assigned the job of translating or writing engineering diploma books in Odia language by the State government.
Under the National Educational Policy - 2020, the AICTE had allowed translation or original writing of engineering books - from diploma to BTech level - in 11 regional languages including Odia. This academic session, it approved engineering learning in five languages - Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Bengali.
While Odisha has started work on writing engineering diploma books in Odia, work on BTech is yet to start with the modalities not being finalised. The Council has earmarked `1 lakh for writing/translating each diploma book in Odia. The DTET has roped in eight experts to write the books. The move is aimed at removing language bottlenecks in technical education, particularly for students belonging to rural
areas.
Currently, around 8,000 students are pursuing three-year diploma engineering courses at 35 government-run institutions across Odisha. While 32 institutions are purely government run, three institutions - Biju Patnaik Film and Television Institute at Cuttack, IGIT-Sarang (diploma) at Dhenkanal and Institute of Textile Technology at Choudwar - function under government undertaking societies.
The diploma programme has 10 to 12 books per year per branch. Sources in DTET said, they had sent a proposal to AICTE to write Odia books in five subjects but three were approved. While the diploma colleges were supposed to complete the entire process and begin technical learning in regional language this academic session, it was delayed due to the pandemic.
Currently, the focus is on using Odia books only for learning and reference and not for teaching. “The medium of teaching will continue in English and a student can use the Odia books for reference and better understanding. It is believed that the fundamental clarity in technical subjects for students from regional education board and rural background will be better in Odia,” said Manoranjan Samal, Deputy Director, DTET. The books will soon be sent to the faculty development cell of AICTE for review approval.