University Grants Commission is Looking Forward to Releasing UG Courses in Indian Languages

The top authority on higher education has agreed to support book translation and publication for a variety of academic programs

on Dec 12, 2022

Academics employed by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) can now produce books in their native languages for a variety of programs. The University Grants Commission (UGC) is prepared to promote and encourage authors to publish works already available in English in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, and other languages.

The top authority on higher education has agreed to support book translation and publication for a variety of academic programs.

Prof. Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, the chairperson of the UGC, said: "To grasp the material and enhance learning outcomes, students should be taught in their language. Students should also develop their communication skills in English since they will need to interact with individuals throughout the world."

According to him, an Apex committee is tasked with developing a road plan and organizing efforts to publish textbooks in Indian languages for use in undergraduate programs including BA, BCom, and BSc. He said, "A strategy will be developed with publishers to offer textbooks at reasonable rates in a digital format."

In light of this, the UGC has engaged in discussions with foreign book publishers to explore the potential for "Bringing out Undergraduate English textbooks in Indian languages." Attendees included representatives from illustrious publishing companies like Wiley India, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis, Cambridge University Press India, Cengage India, and McGraw-Hill India.

The engagement was mostly focused on translating textbooks into Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati, Odiya, Bengali, Assamese, Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu for undergraduate programs in higher education institutions across the nation. According to Prof. Kumar, the UGC will assist publishers in finding textbooks, translation resources, and editing specialists.

The translation of current textbooks used in UG BA, BSc, and BCom programs will be the first focus, and it will eventually be expanded to PG studies as well. Apart from that, Prof. Kumar stated, "Additionally, UGC would encourage Indian authors and academics to develop textbooks in a variety of languages and will work with publishers to publish them.

In the upcoming six to twelve months, the UGC plans to convert a sizable number of textbooks into Indian languages, "Added he. Representatives from the participating publications stated their desire to work with us on this national objective throughout the meeting. According to the UGC chairman, the UGC is also talking with Indian publishers of English-language books about the possibilities of publishing similar works in Indian languages.