Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur sets up 'Shivani Centre' that aims to help the students belonging to a non-English medium educational background. The center focuses on the seamless integration of students from Hindi and Other Indian Languages (OILs) backgrounds.
The newly established Shivani Centre aims at nurture and re-integration of Hindi and other Indian languages and will ensure the availability of the course content in regional languages to overcome the challenge of restricted job opportunities at the end of the academic program, said IIT Kanpur in a statement.
Students well-versed in other Indian languages face a lot of challenges in finding jobs due to the language barriers and this initiative by IIT Kanpur is one such step that will help students overcome this issue.
The centre is being established with a grant of USD 1 million from Micky and Vinita Charitable Fund. Two of IIT Kanpur's alumnus Mr Muktesh (Micky) Pant (BT/CH/76) is setting up this Centre in the memory of his late mother Gaura Pant better known as Shivani, an IIT Kanpur statement said.
Talking about this initiative, Professor Abhay Karandikar, Director IIT Kanpur said: “It has been acknowledged that Indian languages are important for educational and cultural development as they strengthen equity in education. Students with Indian languages background face challenges in navigating the English language based course content and often face academic and social exclusion as a result.”
“The Shivani Centre is expected to bring about a paradigm shift in the educational practices on the campus of IIT Kanpur. It will ensure seamless integration of students of Hindi and OILs background at the institute and will fulfill the objectives laid out in National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.” Mr Abhay Karandikar added.
