Students in Odisha will get a chance to pursue engineering courses in their mother tongue Odia from the next academic year 2022-23, official sources have said.

In order to create a blueprint for this plan, the Odisha government and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) had already met and also held a meeting last week.

However, those students who want to pursue engineering courses in English will be allowed to do so.

Educationist Prof. Pritish Chandra Acharya told The Telegraph: “Though we welcome the decision, there are a number of issues attached to teaching engineering courses through Indian languages. But we need to brood over the issue of whether we are ready at this point to do it. All the study materials, including syllabuses and subjects outside the curriculum, should be available in Odia language in plenty.”

The educationist further said: “Those who are going to teach engineering subjects in regional languages, we need to know whether they are proficient in their mother tongue. If these issues are not addressed, the students who pass out from engineering colleges studying in their mother tongue would not be able to compete at the all-India level and get a job in a private company.”

Like Acharya, many educationists and parents point out that in order to teach engineering courses in Odia, a systematic and pragmatic approach should be made from Class X onwards. “The courses at Plus Two level should also be taught in Odia so that a student can pursue the engineering courses in Odia without finding any difficulties,” said another educationist Akshay Pradhan.

The Odisha Private Engineering College Association has welcomed the move. “Mostly 70 per cent students enrolled in engineering colleges are from state-run Odia medium schools. The students find it difficult to pursue the engineering courses in English. Once the medium of education turns out to be the mother tongue, they can excel,” association secretary Binod Das told this newspaper.

The association is also hopeful that all the engineering seats will be filled up. “Now the state has 34,000 engineering seats both at government and private level. Only 20,000 seats are getting filled up. Once the engineering courses are being taught in Odia, all the seats would be filled up,” Das said.

It has also scotched criticism that the students will not be able to compete at the all-India level. “Countries like Germany, France and Korea are imparting engineering courses in their mother tongue and they are the world leaders, Similarly, a majority of the south Indian states and Maharashtra are imparting the courses in engineering through English.” Das said.

Sources said the government would rope in the Institute of Odia Studies and Research and the Odisha Bhasa Pratisthan, an institution for preservation, development and extension of Odia language, to carry out the translation of various engineering courses.