Amit Shah to launch country’s 1st Hindi version of MBBS books in MP on Oct 16

According to state government officials, Shah will launch three MBBS syllabus books for first year of MBBS, thus initiating learning medical science in Hindi

Union home minister Amit Shah will release country’s first MBBS syllabus in Hindi for students on October 16 as part of the Madhya Pradesh government’s initiate to teach higher education subjects in Hindi as part of “ease of education” initiative.

According to state government officials, Shah will launch three MBBS syllabus books for first year of MBBS, thus initiating learning medical science in Hindi.

The books, they said, will have scientific biological terms written in Devanagari script and explanations in Hindi.

“The books are sort of Hinglish in Devanagari script not to stigmatise the MBBS degree,” said Madhya Pradesh medical education minister Vishwas Sarang.

Recently, a committee of Parliamentarians had recommended Hindi as language for higher education in Hindi speaking states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Gujarat.

For non-Hindi speaking states such as Tamil Nadu, the committee recommended books in mother language of the respective states.

The books will be introduced in state medical colleges from the current academic year for students.

Officials said the students will be able to take exams in Hinglish and will get a degree which will not mention medium of education according to National Medical Commission Act.

“As the NMC Act says the medium of medical education should be English only, the MP government is introducing these books as complementary for learning,” a government official said.

Sarang said they have taken inspiration from European countries including Spain and Germany, where the medical education books are in Spanish and German respectively to having Hindi textbooks for medical education.

“In the late 18th century, European countries started writing medical science books which were full of Latin words. Slowly, they were translated into British and American English. A few European and Asian countries translated them into their native language by keeping the Latin words and other technical words to increase the understanding of students,” he said.

Adopting the same philosophy, the minister said they set up a war room named Mandar in February this year for preparing a Hindi dictionary of English medical terms having 97 medical college teachers.

“The first cut of the books came in July and a group of teachers read every word of the book to check the meaning of the sentences. Later, the books sent for printing,” the minister said.

Officer on special duty (OSD) Dr Rahul Rokde, who coordinated the government’s effort, said, “The idea is a paradigm shift towards ease the education for Hindi medium students. They will learn and understand and not feel inferior while attending the international seminars and conferences because all the technical words are in English and the books are the same. Even students will not face any difficulty in studying abroad.”

The Hindi textbooks for MBBS are being introduced in Madhya Pradesh after failed attempts to start engineering in Hindi in MP.

A medical college professor familiar with the development said the books are complementary for students as the government has learnt from the past experience of introducing Hindi textbooks for engineering at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hindi University.

“No students came for engineering courses as textbooks were in chaste Hindi,” he said, giving reason for opting for Hinglish textbooks.

Indian Medical Association (IMA) leader Dr Sudeep Pathak said, “The concept is good to help Hindi medium students but at the higher level, it is impossible to translate all the books. A popular book named Harrison is like a bible for medical students and translating every word of it is practically impossible,” he said.

“It is too early to say what will happen. Time will tell the result of this initiative,” he added.

Ranjeet Singh, who cleared his MBBS last year from Gandhi Medical College in Bhopal, said, “When I entered the medical college, I used to face many difficulties in learning. I had to read a sentence in English text book three times to understand it. Hindi textbooks will surely help the students in learning.”

Congress said instead of improving skills, the BJP-led state government is experimenting with students.

“What purpose will be solved by introducing a course in ‘Hinglish’. If the terms are same, then teacher can explain the topics in Hindi in the classroom and students will understand it. The BJP-led government is pushing its agenda in every field without thinking about the result,” said Ajay Yadav, spokesperson, MP Congress Committee.