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PU syndicate nod to take BSc exam in Hindi, Punjabi
The suggestion was put forward by some members of the syndicate, along with the recommendations of the regulations committee
The Panjab University (PU) syndicate on Saturday approved the suggestion to allow BSc and BSc honours students to write their exams in Hindi and Punjabi. The decision will be placed before the senate in the next meeting.
The suggestion was put forward by some members of the syndicate, along with the recommendations of the regulations committee. It was presented as a supplementary agenda.
While discussing the medium of examination for BSc students, syndicate members suggested that candidates should be allowed to write their answers in Hindi and Punjabi as well.
Syndicate member Gurmeet Singh said, “This is in the spirit of the National Education Policy (NEP) which encourages education in the students’ mother tongue. The mode of instruction will remain unchanged and even the question paper will remain in English but we have asked that answers in Hindi and Punjabi should be accepted.”
Corroborating this, syndicate member Harpreet Singh Dua added, “In Punjab, PU will be the first university to offer this choice to science students. It is just being done so that no student feels left out for not being proficient in English even if the student is talented at the subject.”
Addressing the problems associated with the proposal, including the improficiency of teachers in the languages, Dua added that it was a small problem and the exam sheets could be sent to examiners who understand the language.
He added that the next step was to get science books translated into Hindi and Punjabi.
The chairperson of a science department of PU, on the request of being anonymous, said it would present problems for teachers as there were many science terms in English that were hard to translate.
He further alleged that it was being viewed as a political issue and science being the language of logic needs to be taught in universal language.
Dean of science faculty Navdeep Goyal said it was a good initiative but it would take time and effort for it to become successful.
“More than teachers, the main problem will be for students. The medium of teaching will remain unchanged and all study material is in English. It will be difficult for a student to first convert it to Hindi or Punjabi and then study it,” he added.
Physics lecturer at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 40-B, Chandigarh, Savinder Singh said they didn’t receive requests as such from students to teach these subjects in Hindi or Punjabi. Even in Punjab board schools, the subjects are taught in English.
Award-winning Punjabi poet Surjit Patar called this a good move and added, “Students should be allowed to write in their preferred medium but I would also advise them to learn the English terminologies as well that are used in science for communicating internationally.”
