BHUBANESWAR: Starting engineering education in Odia language in the state may take time but students’ interest seems to be peaking at the right time.
Official sources say teaching and learning is unlikely to start till all books for the four-year BTech degree, approved by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) are translated into Odia language.
At present, translation of the first year books from English to Odia is complete and work for the second year is underway.
The AICTE, in alignment with National Education Policy-2020, had included Odia in the list of 11 regional languages in which engineering can be taught. Subsequently, an MoU was signed between AICTE and Bhubaneswar-based Institute of Odia Studies & Research (IOSR) for translation of engineering degree and diploma books in Odia and printing of technical glossary in the language.
BPUT sources said before engineering teaching in Odia begins, the entire translation process has to be completed and this might take another two years. “We realised this after we found that in other states where engineering education in regional languages was started, students had to shift back to English medium after first year because the translated books of second year were not ready. Since translation is a time consuming process, we do not want to rush into beginning engineering education in Odia,” said an official.
Member secretary of IOSR Subrat Prusty said work on translation of 88 second year books is already underway. “Priority has been given to four to five subject books keeping in view the failure percentage in these subjects and textbooks associated with electives that are quite popular among students,” he said.
AICTE is using AI-based tools for translation into vernacular languages. “As a result, over 30 per cent of the translated text is made available in read-to-use form in Odia. The balance 70 per cent requires manual intervention which we are doing,” he said.
All the translated engineering books have been uploaded on the e-Kumbh website of AICTE from where students can download them. Till date, 20 translated BTech and diploma books of first year have been downloaded more than 20,000 times. “This is a pointer to the fact that students are interested in reading engineering subjects in Odia,” said Prusty.
The translated books span across courses of civil engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, electronics and communication and mechanical engineering.
The issue was also taken up at a recent meeting of the Technical Education department, BPUT, IOSR and other technical universities in the state. Vice-chancellor of BPUT Amiya Kumar Rath said all steps are being taken to facilitate degree education in engineering through Odia.
RIGHT SIGNS
Translation of 88 second year BTech books is underway
Priority given to four to five subject books
20 translated BTech and diploma books downloaded more than 20,000 times