New Delhi: After failing to enroll even a single student last year, some technical institutes offering engineering courses in regional languages in three states—West Bengal, Karnataka and Kerala—have decided to discontinue these programmes from this year, ThePrint has learned.
In 2021, India’s technical education regulator, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), permitted affiliated colleges to offer engineering courses in regional languages as part of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which promotes education in local languages. Colleges were encouraged to apply for permission to offer these courses.
Three years on, 30 colleges in 13 states offer courses in regional languages, up from just 14 institutes initially. However, attracting students to these programmes remains a challenge because of a broader decline in admissions in engineering courses in India and the stigma associated with regional language programmes.
Engineering seats going vacant often hit headlines, but regional language programmes, in particular, bear the brunt. According to AICTE data presented in Parliament last year, 30-35 percent seats in its affiliated technical institutes remained vacant each year between 2017 and 2022.
Colleges say running a department with no students hurts their reputation, especially when other programmes are doing well.
“This year, we had received requests from institutions in Kerala, Karnataka and West Bengal to discontinue engineering courses offered in regional languages due to insufficient enrollments. Since it is a voluntary initiative, we allowed them to discontinue,” AICTE member secretary Rajive Kumar told ThePrint.
No admissions
According to AICTE data obtained by ThePrint, last year the Council approved 2,580 seats across 35 technical institutes in 13 states. Despite this, only 1,689 seats, or 65 percent, were filled, with no admissions reported in West Bengal, Kerala and Karnataka.
As a result, three or four colleges in West Bengal, Kerala and Karnataka have discontinued their regional language engineering courses, the AICTE data shows.
Gujarat has also reported no admissions but colleges have not closed down their regional language technical departments.
Sri Vijaykumar Bardapure, admission superintendent at Bheemanna Khandre Institute of Technology in Bhalki, Karnataka, told ThePrint the college had zero enrollments in the BTech civil engineering course in Kannada since its introduction in 2021.
“There’s no point in continuing a course, which has seen zero enrollment. Therefore, we requested the AICTE to allow us to discontinue the course from this year,” he said.
Avijit Karamkar, principal of Technique Polytechnic Institute in Hooghly district, West Bengal, said while the college managed to fill 30 percent of seats in the electrical engineering diploma course in its first year, admissions fell in 2022.
The institute had no admissions last year even though it received some applications.
Karamkar attributed this to a broader decline in enrollments in core engineering courses. “If seats are not filling up in engineering courses taught in English, it’s unrealistic to expect better results for courses in regional languages,” he said.
Colleges have also chosen to discontinue these courses to avoid damaging their reputations. “We are an NBA-accredited institute and have achieved full enrollment in all our English-medium courses. Having zero admissions in one course would negatively impact our reputation,” Karamkar added.
However, not all colleges with no admissions in regional language technical courses are shutting shop.
According to AICTE, at least two colleges are still offering these courses in Karnataka, although college officials say there have been no enrollments so far this year.
G.T. Raju, principal, SJC Institute of Technology, Chickballapur, Karnataka, told ThePrint that 11 students were elected in the first round of the state’s common entrance test for the Civil Engineering programme in Kannada.
“However, it is noteworthy that none of these candidates have reported to the college within the timeframe specified by KEA (Karnataka Examinations Authority). Hoping that the allotted candidates will confirm and report in the second round of the allotment,” he said in an email response to ThePrint.
Haryana and Uttrakhand also failed to attract students to its regional language courses last year, with only 17 percent and 18 percent seats filled, respectively.
Need to create more awareness, remove stigma
AICTE’s Kumar said one of the challenges was the stigma associated with studying in regional languages.
“We need to understand that this initiative is still evolving, and we need to collaborate more to raise awareness among students and parents,” he said. “Colleges feel that having separate sections based on the medium of instruction has created a stigma among students and parents.”
Kumar said some colleges had asked to rename their regional language courses to standard courses, even though they would continue teaching in regional languages.
He added that students should have the option to study in their regional languages. “The AICTE is focusing on developing study materials and translating as many books as possible into regional languages to build confidence among students and their families,” he said.
What worked for others?
Not all states are struggling with regional language technical courses. According to AICTE data, enrollments in some states—including Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Bihar—improved last year.
For example, 124 students signed up for a BTech programme in Computer Science in Hindi at two colleges in Rajasthan, higher than the 120 available seats.
Similarly, in Maharashtra, the number of colleges offering courses in regional languages increased from two to seven this year, leading to an exponential increase in the number of seats from 90 to 300.
Officials at several colleges in these states attribute the high enrollment to offering Computer Science courses in regional languages. Computer Science remains the most popular choice among engineering aspirants.
Sanjeev Bhalla, director of Pranveer Singh Institute of Technology in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, said students who were unable to secure spots in English-medium computer science programmes were opting for the same course in Hindi.
“It’s often a matter of availability rather than preference. Students are choosing Computer Science in Hindi as an alternative if they can’t get into the English-medium courses,” he explained.
Nilkanth B. Chopade, deputy director of Maharashtra’s Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering that offers a BTech programme in computer engineering in Marathi, agreed that the popularity of the course helped attract more students.
“Besides, we also offer 17 different multidisciplinary minor courses to students pursuing engineering in regional languages including English literature, various international languages and courses in blockchain technology. This is helping them to become job-ready,” he said.
Meanwhile, officials said the industry’s acceptance of regional language courses is yet to be seen.
“The first batch of B.Tech students will undergo campus placements later this year, and we expect to receive feedback next year,” said Dinesh Goyal, director of Poornima Institute of Engineering and Technology in Jaipur, which offers a BTech in Computer Engineering.
“If the placement outcomes are favourable, it should encourage continued interest and enrollment in regional language programmes, particularly in computer sciences.”
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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For a candidate to choose any course in regional language. It is most important that the candidate should have his base in regional language. It is not easy for a candidate to switch language at later stages of education. As of Maharashtra CBSE introduced regional language around 2002 and state school already have options for basic education in regional languages.