Medium of Education
When I read this newspaper article on the UGC calling for “all higher education institutions to allow students to write answers in their mother tongue… even when the course is offered in the English language”, I was taken aback. To that end, the circular also asked for a “list of topics on which regional textbooks or student material will be required”. That list would apparently help identify the scale of translations required. The UGC said this move was triggered by the National Education Policy (NEP)’s call for education to be made available in the local language. That reminded me of the part in Nilakantan RS’s South vs North where he criticized the local language approach saying the South prefers English as the medium, which reflects market realities. Then again, not everyone cares that international communications and publications are overwhelmingly in English – after all, what fraction of the Indian population will ever work in roles that needs them to keep up with or ...