'Medicine can also be studied in Tamil medium!' - CM Stalin's efforts are getting a growing response

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Medical and Public Welfare Minister M.A. Subramanian had said while addressing the Press conference that the textbooks for undergraduate medical courses are being prepared in Tamil. "As an initiative, the first year MBBS textbooks are being prepared in Tamil as of now,"

The Madras Medical College (MMC) was established in Tamil Nadu in 1835. It's been 187 years since the course started in Tamil Nadu. This is the third oldest medical college in India and the medium of the course was in English. There was a time when the people who knew Sanskrit could only be qualified to study medicine. Sanskrit was one of the major qualifications for Medicine.

We could understand that English was the closest language to learn medicine, but why haven't we tried to teach the course in our mother tongue? Replying to this question, M.K.Stalin is initiating the course in Tamil and to notice Stalin will be the first person in the history of Tamil Nadu who will be experimenting with this.

Explaining about the process of medical textbooks in Tamil, Minister M.A. Subramanian said, "The government is taking steps to introduce Tamil medium in medical education. "We have pitched in for permission from the union government to start new medical colleges in six districts, Tenkasi, Mayiladuthurai, Perambalur, Ranipet, Tirupattur and Kancheepuram where there are no medical colleges. Once we get the approval, we will try to go ahead with a Tamil medium medical college in Chennai."

For the last one year "The three professors, who have already been appointed, are working on the translation of the first-year MBBS textbooks into Tamil. "We are discussing with linguists whether the translation work is 100 percent correct. We expect the work to be completed within a month and our chief minister will release the textbooks soon."

This could be the best reply to those who always try to raise this question "They only oppose Hindi but have they introduced any schemes that are implemented under their rule for promoting Tamil?"

It is to be noted that the DMK government has taken the initiative to provide medical education in Tamil at the same time where the Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke about Hindi to be a compulsory part in higher education.

We spoke to Dr. Bala, an orthopedic specialist, about the Tamil Nadu government's new initiative. He has been writing various information about medicine on social media.

" I did my schooling in Tamil, to be more specific it was only Tamil as the medium. When I joined medicine, the course was completely in English. I had a very hard time picking up the course itself. When it is hard to understand a word in English, how will the students understand the sentences and the paragraphs from the textbook? We never had good access to the internet therefore, to get the meaning of a word we need to refer to a dictionary. If its words, then we could manage but will not be able to manage the huge sentences and the medical terms. Also, when we were studying there was something called 'Brake System' which is nothing but if we fail a subject, we need to start from the scratch of the first year. Those hurdles are removed now!

In a class of 150 students in total, there used to be approximately 50 students who were from Tamil Medium. They had trouble studying in the English medium. We were forced to learn a language along with the lesson. That pressure will be somewhat broken by the government's Tamil medium of education."

"Today's scientific world is associated with English. English is necessary to improve oneself as a doctor. Several thousand scientific research papers are submitted in English. We need to read it immediately.

Therefore, students who are studying medicine with their mother tongue should constantly improve themselves in English as well. Only then can we compete intellectually with this world of science," he says.

"Many years ago, they introduced higher studies in arts and sciences in the Tamil medium. When C. Subramaniam was the Education Minister, it was introduced in the new face class.

Later, when Nedunchezhiyan was the education minister in the DMK government, the Tamil Nadu Textbook Corporation released books for arts and science degree courses. However, no efforts were made to pursue engineering at that time.

It was during the regime of former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi that the Tamil medium of teaching in civil and mechanical engineering courses was introduced. Now, they have taken a step forward in 'Medical Studies in Tamil' says Sivakumar the field worker of Tamil Studies

But this should not be hampered when the regime changes, this must be carried continuously. Already the terminology for the medical field has been developed by some individuals.

On the other hand there are many more words to be created in Tamil. M.A Subramaniam has said that the work is going on. But he says, "The medical college, which will be set up separately which will have medicine in Tamil medium." When the lessons are of good quality then we will extend them to all colleges.

"Former Chief Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu has enacted a law that arts and science subjects can be studied in colleges in Tamil medium which Karunanithi brought it. He also paved the way for those studying in English medium to write exams in Tamil. The Tamil Nadu government is firm on a two-language policy," says Ponmudi, Tamil Nadu's higher education minister.

Students can learn as many languages as they want. But any course should also be offered in the mother tongue. Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has taken the first step in this endeavor. This has been widely welcomed by Tamil activists.