The Lingering Silence: Why Kannada Engineering Courses Remain Unclaimed for the Sixth Straight Year

For the sixth consecutive academic year, a stark reality echoes through Karnataka's engineering landscape: courses offered in the state's official language, Kannada, continue to find no takers. This persistent silence, a profound lack of student enrollment, raises critical questions about the efficacy of promoting technical education in regional languages and the aspirations of a new generation.

The initiative, championed by bodies like the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), was born from a noble vision: to make complex engineering concepts accessible to students in their mother tongue, fostering deeper understanding and local innovation.

Efforts were substantial, involving the translation of textbooks, development of study materials, and the provision of dedicated faculty. Yet, despite these earnest endeavors, the classrooms earmarked for Kannada medium engineering remain conspicuously empty.

So, what drives this consistent rejection of an earnest policy? The answer, according to educational experts and student surveys, is multi-faceted, but primarily rooted in practical considerations and global aspirations.

Students, and their parents, overwhelmingly perceive English as the gateway to better job opportunities, both within India's tech hubs and across international borders. The fear of limited career prospects, particularly in a predominantly English-speaking global engineering ecosystem, overshadows the appeal of mother-tongue instruction.

Furthermore, the perceived difficulty in adapting to an English-dominated professional world after studying in Kannada, along with the lack of advanced reference materials and research papers often published solely in English, contributes significantly to this preference.

While the intent to preserve and promote regional languages in academic domains is laudable, the ground reality of market demand and global competitiveness presents a formidable challenge that current policies have yet to overcome.

This ongoing trend highlights a fundamental disconnect between policy directives and student realities.

It compels a deeper introspection into how regional language education can be made truly viable and attractive in specialized fields like engineering. Until a compelling pathway to global opportunities and a robust support system for Kannada-medium graduates are established, the silence in these classrooms may continue, leaving a vital linguistic and educational initiative perpetually on the sidelines.