According to authorities, the Centre will host a two-day conference to examine how to use technology to mainstream Indian languages in the education sector and to develop a “Bharatiya language ecosystem” in the nation.
The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which places a strong emphasis on using both technology and Indian languages in education, inspired the union ministries of education, skill development, and entrepreneurship to organise the “Technology and Bharatiya Bhasha Summit” on September 30 and October 1 in Delhi.
Over 1,000 academics, researchers, edu-tech companies, start-ups, and policymakers are expected to attend the summit, according to representatives of the education ministry. Technology for Indian languages, technology in Indian languages, and technology through Indian languages will all be major subjects of discussion at the summit.
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“The mainstreaming of Indian languages needs a lot of work. According to Chamu Krishna Shastry, chair of the Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti of the education ministry, one of the organisers, “it includes using Indian languages in writing codes and programmes, developing core standards for technology for their universal acceptance, web standardisation for Indian languages, and developing mobile apps in Indian languages.
“India still utilises English for all of this, despite the fact that numerous nations, like China and Japan, have operating systems, codes, and programmes in their native languages. At this time, we also need to develop such a system for Indian languages, he continued.
At the conclusion of the summit, according to Shastry, a five-year roadmap would be made public for the use of technology to improve access to educational opportunities by making them available in Indian languages.
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The summit’s goal, according to him, is to use technology to make the switch from the current language environment to the Bharatiya language ecology as smoothly as possible.
In accordance with the NEP 2020, the government has implemented a number of measures to promote Indian languages in educational institutions, including the development of technical and professional courses in these languages. According to a senior official in the education ministry, the policy also encourages the use of mother tongues, regional languages, or Indian languages as the medium of teaching until at least Grade 5, and preferably until Grade 8 and beyond.
We will also go over technological interventions that can be used to promote and use Indian languages in both public and private settings. The source, who wished to remain unidentified, continued, “Sessions will also be held on comprehending the contemporary challenges of technology in mainstreaming Indian languages.
