Bengaluru: Though thousands of Visvesvaraya Technological University students took to streets recently in protest against several pressing issues, including delays in conducting exams and the revised examination system, they were divided over making Kannada mandatory for engineering students.
A chat with some of the agitating students on this issue evoked mixed reactions. “VTU’s decision to ensure students learn Kannada is important and commendable at this time where even Kannadiga students have started neglecting their mother tongue,” said Vinay D., a fifth-semester student, who took part in the protest at Anand Rao Circle.
He added that the true meaning of each message would be conveyed only when people use their mother tongue and thus such a decision would bring down confusions in the engineering industry. Teaching basics of the language does more than good to the non domicile students, he opined.
Adithya, another budding engineer said, “One cannot expect everyone to converse well in English when you are out on the field. Communicating to workers and subordinates, who would not be as educated as an engineer, becomes a problem. This decision would help engineers to be a good communicator.”
For outstation students like Pruthvi, the decision seems to be a “shocking” one. “When students like me have traveled all the way to the Silicon Valley of India to learn professionally, why would they make us study another language adding to the burden,” he questioned.
Nithin S, a student from Kerala said, “We are happy to take spoken Kannada classes which would help us work better in the conditions here. Learning to write a new Indian language at this age is not practical.” He also suggested that colleges or independent departments holding casual oral tests to monitor the learning process would be better than implementing the latest decision.
For Chandan Kumar, another budding engineer from Nagarjuna College of Engineering and Technology who took part in the protests at Mysore Bank Circle, including Kannada as a subject with credits along with engineering courses would definitely pose a challenge. “The students from other states will have to compromise even on the total marks and grades secured if the language course is included for exams. The varsity should not add to the burden engineering students already face,” he said. Shravan Kumar, a student at Brindavan College of Engineering, said VTU should make sure easy and basic question papers are set for Kannada. “The syllabus and curriculum should be set considering all and effective teaching along with lenient evaluation should be thought of by the authorities,” he said.
