These courses include subjects such as cloud computing, technical English for engineers, management accounting for decision-making, etc.
NEW DELHI: As part of its efforts to give a digital push to higher education, the HRD ministry has decided to offer nearly 300 online courses in Hindi and 10 other Indian languages on its online course portal Swayam.
To be launched in the next three months, these courses include subjects such as cloud computing, technical English for engineers, management accounting for decision-making, database management system and advertisement and publicity.
The courses are aimed at those looking at developing soft skills or supplementing their education. Students will be given certificates after clearing exams at the end of the courses. The languages in which these courses will be given include Hindi, Oriya, Tamil and Kannada.
"The idea is to target as many people as possible, so while there are 22 states with different languages, we are looking at reaching as many people through some what common languages," an HRD official said.
The courses are being developed by a team of experts led by professors at I IT Delhi and IIT Chennai, officials added.
While nearly 76 universities have already approved credit transfer of courses taken through Swayam, which is a MOOC (massive online open course) platform launched by the ministry in July this year, officials said these courses in Hindi and regional languages will help increase the enrolment. The government hopes to achieve a target of 1 crore enrolments by 2018. Swayam is an indigenously developed IT platform that allows access to courses developed by professors and faculty from anywhere and any time.
The ministry is also looking at bringing in courses and faculty from foreign institutions, officials added.
