A Hindi-medium B.Tech course in civil engineering has been introduced from the current academic session, with students enrolled in the programme also being eligible for a ₹2 lakh incentive from the Madhya Pradesh government in their final year, officials said on Thursday.
The initiative has been launched at Shri G S Institute of Technology and Science (SGSITS), an aided autonomous institute and one of the reputed engineering colleges in central India, they added.
'Cannot give govt jobs to everyone': Omar Abdullah pushes skill development among youth
Thirty seats have been earmarked for the special Hindi-medium civil engineering batch, and around 20 students have already been admitted, the officials informed.
The initiative has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) to make technical education more accessible to students who studied in Hindi-medium schools.
Sunil Ajmera, head of the civil engineering department at SGSITS, told PTI that over the years the institute had observed that many students who studied in Hindi medium up to Class 12 found it difficult to pursue engineering in English, with some even dropping out midway.
"Keeping this aspect in mind, the B.Tech civil engineering course has begun in Hindi so that students can study and appear for examinations in their mother tongue," Ajmera said.
The institute prepared for the Hindi-medium course for several years before introducing it.
Vivek Tiwari, assistant professor in the civil engineering department, said institute experts had been translating English technical study material into Hindi for the past four years. Workshops were also organised to train teachers to teach in Hindi, he said.
"For me, studying civil engineering in English would have meant taking help from Google and ChatGPT to understand difficult subjects. But while studying in my mother tongue Hindi, teachers can explain even technical terms in English easily," engineering student Rohit Sharma told PTI.
Faculty members said students enrolled in the Hindi-medium course were also provided essential English language skills to ensure they remain competitive in the current environment.
The objective of offering civil engineering in Hindi is not to distance students from English but to provide them technical education in their mother tongue while ensuring they acquire the English skills necessary for their careers, they said.