Bhubaneswar, June 10: The Minister of Electronics, Information and Technology, Tusharkanti Behera, has expressed concern over the omission of the Odia language from the Swayam online education portal under the Union Ministry of Education.

He said that the fact will be brought to the knowledge of the Union Ministry of Education. “Under no circumstances the future of Odia students will be compromised. Now children are relying heavily on online education during the Covid- 19 pandemic. The state government is focusing on strengthening the network system in many interior areas of Odisha like Malkangiri district. The Union Ministry of Education had announced the availability of study material on line portal in total of 10 languages; including Odia to ensure that language will not be a barrier for learning,” Behera said.

He further said that the decision of Ministry of Education ( MoE) on the recommendation of AICTE to drop the Odia language courses from massive open online courses scheme, is unfortunate and unjust.

“Centre’s move has deprived lakhs of Odia students to learn from SWAYAM online platform. As this open online source of Govt. provides courses from UG to PG, technical, law and pharmacy education free of costs with valid certification, it could have great help to odia students, researchers and faculties. Rural area of Odisha is now connected online and this pandemic has thought us that online study is the future. With the vision of Hon’ble Chief Minister Sri Naveen Patnaik we have extended connectivity to remotest area of the state and students are able to get online classes conducted by schools and colleges. This platform would help students of rural area to access higher education in Odia language from SWAYAM portal, but in vein,” he added.

Behera has expressed his displeasure and appealed for the reconsideration of the decision of MoE to include the Odia as language for the educational platform SWAYAM for the greater interest of the Odia students.