Observing that education was a tool for empowerment, President Droupadi Murmu today called for steps to ensure that each and every child in the country has access to education at every level.

”We have to do our best to make education available to all without any discrimination. Language should be an enabling factor, not a hindrance to educating the students. The introduction of learning in regional and local languages would go a long way towards building a well-educated, aware and vibrant society,” she said while launching various projects of the Union Ministry of Education in Bhubaneswar.

These include engineering books of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) in Odia language; a glossary of the technical terms in Odia language, developed by the Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology (CSTT); and e-KUMBH (Knowledge Unleashed in Multiple Bharatiya Languages) portal.

The President said she was happy to launch these important initiatives of the Union Ministry of Education.

These were commendable steps in the direction of making education accessible to all.  It has been observed that many students face difficulty in understanding technical education in English. Therefore, under the National Education Policy (NEP) -2020, the government has taken steps to provide technical education in regional languages, she added.

President Murmu said that there was no doubt that the mother tongue helped intellectual development in students.

She expressed confidence that learning in the mother tongue would develop creative thinking and analytical skills among students and would also provide equal opportunities to urban and rural students.

She noted that earlier technical education in regional languages used to face hurdles due to the non-availability of textbooks in vernacular languages.

She appreciated the AICTE for its efforts in removing this hurdle.

The President said that Odia was an ancient and rich language. It has a distinct literary tradition and rich vocabulary. Therefore, there would be no difficulty in getting technical education in the Odia language.

She said that all Indian languages have more or less the same potential. She was happy to note that under the NEP, equal importance was being given to all Indian languages. She said that it has ushered in a new era in the field of Indian languages.