CHENNAI: Though his department is involved in promoting Tamil, there is an imperative need to create a platform to spread 'easy' Tamil, and thereby make the language gain equal prominence to languages like English and French, Tamil official language and culture minister K. Pandiararajan has said.
Though Tamil is ranked above Japanese among world languages, a lot needs to be done to make it more importance globally, he said and welcomed initiatives in research and development in promoting Tamil that is 'easy' to learn. He was not averse to tie-up with any research institutions on the issue, Mr Pandiarajan said and added an additional 10 crore non-Tamils worldwide could be helped to learn and speak Tamil easily.
The minister also stressed the need to mould students in 'design' thinking and 'platform' thinking across all disciplines based on contextual requirements, so that their chances of employability get enhanced.
He was speaking after launching the CADD Centre's courseware in Tamil at a function here on Saturday. He also launched CADD Centre's logo on the occasion. The Tamil courseware introduced by AutoCAD, a leading engineering design software, is meant for high school and college students.
Commending the effort, Mr Pandiarajan said the initiative would help the students learn the skills in their mother tongue. He quoted national poet Subramania Bharati said one should strive for global recognition.
S. Ganesan, registrar, Anna University, said the university would establish two centres of excellence to help students gain proficiency in skills in various fields of engineering. He also urged the Minister to take steps to advocate the use of “common terminology” for translated or original works in Tamil.
Panneerselvam, principal director, MSME Technology Development Centre, Government of India and R. Parthasarathy, chairman, CADD Centre, spoke.
