AICTE pitches for using books by Indian authors and publishers

NEWDELHI: The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) wants engineering and technical colleges and institutes to promote books by Indian authors and publishers.

The apex regulatory body on technical education has written a letter to vice chancellors, registrars, directors and principals of all technical universities and engineering and technical institutes stating that the faculty and students should refer to the books by Indian authors and publishers that are available on AICTE website.

“I am happy to inform you that this model curriculum has already been adopted by many universities and institutions from this academic year. In the same breath, for the benefit of students pursuing courses in engineering disciplines, books by Indian authors and publishers have been suggested by a committee of eminent experts, as per model curriculum of AICTE,” reads the letter written by AICTE chairman Anil Sahasrabudhe on September 13.

“I believe that these books drawing the experience of Indian authors and contextualized to Indian settings will definitely aid the students in better learning of the concepts and in turn improve their quality,” the letter adds.

The letter further stated that books by Indian authors and publishers need more encouragement among students and teachers, which will also prompt many of the Indian authors to pen new technical books and in new areas too that will augment the horizon of technical education i n the Indian scenario.

Experts welcomed the move but cautioned that the quality should not be diluted.

“It is a good move to encourage Indian authors and publishers but it should not be made mandatory. The autonomy of universities and i nstitutes should be maintained in choosing the books they wish to recommend. At the same time, the quality should be maintained too,” said SS Mantha, academician and former chairman of the AICTE.