Representative image of a classroom.
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No student has opted to study engineering in the Kannada medium for the fourth consecutive year.
With the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) concluding the admission process for professional courses in the current academic year, no college has registered a student for Kannada medium engineering.
According to the details available with the KEA, one student did opt for a seat during the option entry phase but later stated that he had chosen it by mistake and did not report it.
A similar situation unfolded in the academic years 2022-23, 2021-22, and 2020-21. In the 2021-22 academic year, around 10 students chose seats, but none of them reported to the colleges. Likewise, in the 2020-21 academic year, 17 students selected seats but failed to report to the colleges. The pattern continued in 2022-23, with 30 students selecting seats but not showing up.
In the 2020-21 academic year, the state's higher education department decided to offer engineering education in Kannada medium, and three colleges—SJC Institute of Technology Chickballapur, BKIT Bhalki, and Maharaja Institute of Technology Mysore—stepped forward to offer Kannada medium engineering.
As per the decision of the Visvesvaraya Technological University, Kannada medium engineering was offered exclusively in Civil and Mechanical streams. This decision aligned with the recommendation of the National Education Policy (NEP) to provide engineering education in regional languages.
However, experts are advising the government to provide incentives to encourage students to pursue Kannada medium education. According to experts, there should be some form of incentive for students who study in the Kannada medium.
VTU's Vice Chancellor, Vidyashankar S, said, "There should be job reservations for those who pursue Kannada medium engineering. We have been advocating for this for the past three years and have also brought it to the government's attention."
Vidyashankar stated that the University had written about this issue last year and intends to do so again this year.
"We will write to the government once more this year, requesting the implementation of booster schemes to promote Kannada medium education," he added.