‘Language should not be barrier at IITs’

Kharagpur (West Bengal), Aug 18 (IANS) Language should not be considered a barrier for students at IITs, an MHRD official said here on Friday, urging IIT Kharagpur to expand humanities education further to help students balance academic pressure with mental well-being.

"You must make good use of humanities education, to the extent courses/institute allows. Language becomes a bit of a challenge for some students who have different mother tongues (and are not well versed in English)," Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) Higher Education Secretary K.K. Sharma said in his address at IIT Kharagpur's 67th Foundation Day.

"I am requesting the students to make sure none of the (younger) students should think that language can be a handicap. I am happy to know that you have a language lab here and this lab should be available for students throughout the year so that language should not really be a hurdle," Sharma said.

"I think humanities education should be expanded further and students must make the most of it. I am requesting the director that you should help with the language for all students, at any point of time," he said.

Sharma also stressed on balancing academic stress with mental well-being.

"Some young students find it challenging to be away from family and friends (during their IIT course years). There is a huge amount of tool available to deal with this challenge. There I would suggest the Department of Happiness and other departments at IIT Kharagpur (to chip in)," Sharma added.

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