Bhubaneswar, June 9: In a step to make higher education more inclusive and accessible, the Odisha Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) to provide study materials in the Odia language.
Under this agreement, IGNOU will translate study materials for various higher education and professional courses into Odia, making them available in both print and digital formats. This initiative aims to eliminate language barriers and empower students from diverse linguistic backgrounds to pursue academic and professional qualifications more effectively.
Odisha’s Higher Education Minister, Suryabanshi Suraj, announced that more than 50 IGNOU courses — including certificate and diploma programmes — will be offered in Odia. The translation work is expected to be completed within two years. To support the effort, the state government has committed a financial outlay of ₹2.45 crore from the state budget.
“This initiative is a significant step towards breaking the language barrier in higher education. It will open up new opportunities for students, especially those in rural and tribal areas, who are more comfortable studying in their mother tongue,” said Minister Suraj.
Sharing the development on social media platform X, the Minister wrote in Odia: "To prepare curriculum in the Odia language, an MoU was signed today at Lok Seva Bhawan between the Odisha Government’s Higher Education Department and IGNOU. The commitment shown by Hon’ble Chief Minister Shri @MohanMOdisha and Union Education Minister Shri @dpradhanbjp to promote higher education in Odia is now being realised through this historic step."
The move is part of the broader vision of the Odisha Government to promote mother-tongue-based education and aligns with the objectives of the National Education Policy (NEP), which advocates for multilingual education and the use of regional languages in academia.
