In a significant development, the Bihar government has decided to offer Bachelor of Medicine, and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) courses in Hindi, making it the second state to do so after Madhya Pradesh.
On Tuesday, state health minister Mangal Pandey announced that from the upcoming academic session, medical students will have the option to study MBBS in Hindi.
"The Health Department of Bihar, under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, has taken this historic step after thorough discussions on the necessary aspects, including the availability of Hindi textbooks for the MBBS course. This decision aligns with the government's goal of promoting Hindi and making it a global language," the state health minister said.
The new Hindi course will follow the AIIMS Delhi syllabus for students who pass the NEET UG 2024 exam. In Bihar, there are about 85,000 government schools and Hindi is the primary medium of instruction.
The first state to offer the MBBS programmes in Hindi was Madhya Pradesh. Plans to provide the MBBS programme in Hindi were announced by Vishwas Sarang, the Madhya Pradesh education minister, last year. Amit Shah, the Union Home Minister, had already announced the release of the Hindi MBBS course materials.