With an aim to help students from remote regions to pursue technical knowledge, IIT Madras is offering technical education in various vernacular languages such as Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada.
IIT Madras NPTEL has translated as many as 198 technical courses including the highly sought-after courses such as ‘Programming, Data Structures, and Algorithms using Python' in South Indian languages. The courses are available in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada language
NPTEL (National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning), is a joint venture of the IITs and IISc, funded by the Ministry of Education (MoE).
NPTEL has translated its courses into 11 languages, including Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu. The objective is to help learners who completed their schooling in regional languages and are transitioning to English for technical education.
The translation efforts prioritise key disciplines with a focus on Computer Science (37 courses), Electrical Engineering (35 courses) and Humanities and Social Sciences (29 courses).
Initially started as a project to take quality education to all corners of the country, NPTEL now offers hundreds of courses for certification every semester to students and working professionals across India. The venture was launched in 2003.
