Ankit Pandey, a final-year student at Bhopal’s Gandhi Medical College (GMC), was among the 22 students who enrolled in the inaugural Hindi MBBS programme launched as part of the Madhya Pradesh government’s “ease of education” initiative.
But the hybrid language use prompted them to switch to the English medium from the second year for better long-term prospects. Vishwas Sarang, the then Madhya Pradesh medical education minister, described the books as sort of Hinglish in Devanagari script. The Hindi MBBS course was started after a committee of Parliamentarians recommended Hindi as the language for higher education in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Gujarat. The committee recommended books in the mother language of other states. “Teachers spoke in Hindi, but presentations or the diagrams were shown in English. Other students pointed out that both English and Hindi-medium students were taught together. The students who continue with Hindi are preparing to switch by learning English. When I got stuck with English grammar, I wrote in Hindi. I am learning to learn and answer in English only.”
In 2022, Union home minister Amit Shah released the country’s first Hindi MBBS syllabus and three books, initiating medical science learning in Hindi.
He said they thought Hindi-medium school students like him had an easier path to becoming doctors. Pandey’s batchmate, who requested anonymity, said only the teaching was in Hindi. It was very confusing as we were given Hindi textbooks but had to rely on English books to understand the concepts,” he said. “When we have to learn in English, what is the use of getting Hindi textbooks?” asked Sandeep Puri, another student of the inaugural Hindi batch. A third-year student enrolled in the Hindi programme said it has been a translation exercise. “In the end, everyone has to study in English because NEET (PG) and other competitive exams are in English,” he said. A second-year student said they have been told that marks will be awarded for medical knowledge and not language. “Our seniors told us writing the exam entirely in Hindi may not fetch good marks.
