Image Courtesy : www.facebook.com/tusharkanti.behera.7

Tusharkanti Behera, Electronics and IT Minister of Odisha, has expressed distress over the exclusion of the Odia language from the SWAYAM portal. He appealed to the Centre Govt and requested to reconsider this unjust decision.

SWAYAM is an online portal run by the Union Education Ministry.

Earlier, the Ministry of Education had announced that the study material on the Swayam portal will now be available in 10 languages, including Odia. The study material in regional languages is being provided to ensure that there is no barrier of mode of communication for learning.

However, Behera informed that the Odia language has been dropped during translation by the AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education). The Ministry's decision to drop the language is "unjust and unfortunate", added Behera in a statement.

He also highlighted the crucial point that lakhs of Odia students will be deprived of quality digital education, especially in rural areas, if Odia language is excluded.

He asserted, "Under no circumstances, the future of Odia students will be compromised".

During these unfortunate COVID situations, the students are relying on online education only and the decision to exclude language Odia will lose the "whole idea of removing language barrier in learning", added Behera.