Reports added from this academic year here on, all second year engineering students of Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) and its affiliated colleges will have to take a compulsory course in Kannada. Accordingly the Kannada course, which was an audit course up until now, did not carry any weight age. Further even if the students know Kannada, it is mandatory for students in their third and fourth semester to attend these classes.
Moreover according to VTU Registrar HN Jagannath Reddy, Kannada will be a formal course and all engineering students must obtain a total of 175 credits. He said “Students must get at least 175 credits before completing engineering, and Kannada will carry credit points and moreover this course aims at teaching Kannada for students who do not know the language as well”.
He added “Those who have studied Kannada as a
second language (in ICSE and CBSE curriculum) and first language (state syllabus)
will have a separate course and this is to ensure that those who already know
Kannada will be studying the language at an advanced level”. Further those who
have studied Kannada up to class 10 will have to study the Kannada Manasu
course, and those who do not literate in Kannada will have to opt the Kannada
Kali course and the Kannada lessons will be held twice a week for 16 weeks.
