Madhya Pradesh to Offer Mandarin, Russian, German, and French Courses in Colleges
The state of Madhya Pradesh is set to introduce Mandarin and Russian languages along with Indian languages in 68 PM Shri and autonomous colleges starting from the new academic session. The language course will be of six months duration. The Department of Higher Education has designated autonomous colleges and Higher Education Excellence Institutes as nodal centers for this initiative.
A committee has been formed to prepare the curriculum, and all language syllabi will be ready by January 30, which will then be shared with the Higher Education Excellence Institute. Students will have to pay a fee of ₹500 for each language course. The entire 60-hour course will be offered online.
Officials stated that this initiative aims to promote the importance of foreign languages and help connect students from different parts of the world. It will also enhance students’ employability both within the country and internationally. Plans for offering languages like Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, Sindhi, Manipuri, Odia, Assamese, Bengali, Punjabi, and Gujarati have already been made for the colleges.
Additionally, there are proposals to teach languages such as German, French, Russian, Korean, Spanish, Mandarin, and Japanese in the colleges. Colleges will appoint experts for these language courses.
The state government is also preparing to introduce a Social Impact Bond (SIB) initiative. Under this scheme, 600 OBC youth from the state will be placed in Japan and Germany. The draft for this initiative has already been prepared by the Backward Classes and Minority Department, and it will soon be presented to the Cabinet. Once approved, Madhya Pradesh will be the first state to implement the Social Impact Bond. The project will include the screening of youth at the state level.
Selected youth will be trained in personality grooming and taught the language of the respective countries. Both Japan and Germany have informed that they have 300 vacancies each for this program. The National Skill Development Corporation has been partnered for this initiative. The government has allocated ₹100 crores for the project, with ₹20 crores earmarked for the initial phase.