The All India Council for Technical Education recently announced the’ AICTE-VAANI’ initiative to foster Indian languages among faculty members and students to facilitate teaching-learning. VAANI, which stands for Vibrant Advocacy for Advancement and Nurturing of Indian Languages, was launched by AICTE Chairman Prof. T.G. Sitharam and Padma Shri Awardee and Chairman of the High Powered Committee for the Promotion of Indian Languages Shri Chamu Krishna Shastry at AICTE HQ, New Delhi.
The scheme will provide financial assistance to AICTE-approved institutions for conferences/seminars/workshops lasting at least two days and up to three days in growing disciplines of technical education in 12 regional languages. Under the initiative, 100 annual conferences will receive financial support of Rs 2 lakh each. The 100 conferences will consist of eight meetings in each regional language (Gujarati, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Punjabi, Bengali, Kannada, Assamese, Malayalam, Odia, and Urdu) and twelve conferences in Hindi. The AICTE will refund Rs 2 crore annually using this scheme.
The 12 emerging fields covered under the scheme for organising conferences/seminars/workshops are ‘Advanced Materials, Rare earth & critical minerals, Semiconductor, Space and Defense, Blue Economy, Energy, Sustainability & Climate Change, Advanced Computing (Supercomputing, AI, Quantum Computing), Next Gen Communications, Smart Cities & Mobility, Aggrotech & Food processing, Health Care & Med-Tech, Disaster Management & Resilient Infrastructure and Manufacturing & Industry 4.0.
The AICTE Chairman, while launching the scheme, highlighted that the “AICTE -VAANI scheme will help in creating knowledge base in local language and will encourage the creation of a treasure of latest technical knowledge incorporating the newest developments in regional languages”. He further stated, “This scheme will also promote the promotion of the research papers in the regional languages and further enhance the collaboration between Institutions and Industry.
Chammu K Shastry also commented on the initiative, saying, “The scheme will remove the dilemma regarding giving preference to only English rather than vernacular languages. The importance of regional languages or mother tongue in education will ensure cultural diversity of the nation.”
Applications for AICTE-approved institutions are accepted until April 10th, 2024. The institutions will be chosen based on the criteria developed by AICTE and made available on its website. Once selected, AICTE will approve institutions conducting seminars, workshops, and conferences.
The All India Council for Technical Education was established in November 1945 as a national-level Apex Advisory Body to review technical education facilities and promote coordinated and integrated growth throughout the country. The institution is responsible for planning, developing, and implementing norms and standards; ensuring quality assurance through accreditation, monitoring, and evaluation; ensuring certification and award parity; and ensuring the country’s coordinated and integrated development and management of technical education.
