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Bhubaneswar, July 2: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Saturday announced that the state government would offer certificate courses in Oriya for non-resident Oriyas (NROs) from 2017. The move is aimed at popularising Oriya around the world.
“The state government has decided to offer online certificate courses in Oriya for NROs globally and for students residing outside the state,” Patnaik said.
The Board of Secondary Education (BSE) of Orissa would conduct the lower Oriya test and the curriculum of the test would be equivalent to Class VII standard Oriya, he said.
“This will benefit the second generation of Oriya children living outside the country and will carry forward the grand legacy of our language,” the CM said.
The state government has decided to offer the course based on requests from organisations including the US-based Orissa Society of Americans. The move is expected to help NROs learn Oriya without hassles.
Examination for the online course will also be conducted on completion of the six-month course. They will need to appear in the examination which carries a total of 70 marks — 20 marks for short answers, 20 for long answers, 10 for English to Oriya translation, 10 for synonyms and antonyms and 5 each for fill in the blanks and word formation, sources said.
Interested candidates residing in other states will have to pay Rs1,500 for the examination, while the fee has been fixed $100 for the students from abroad, officials said.
The state government had recently decided to implement the Orissa Official Language Act, 1954, from August 15. It also plans to establish a University for Oriya Language and Literature, an Oriya Virtual Academy, schools for Oriya language and Oriya Chairs in different institutes, among other things.
