The Ministry of Education has approved the establishment of five Centres of Excellence (CoEs) to promote advanced research, preservation and digitisation of India’s classical languages.
The centres will focus on Classical Assamese, Classical Bengali, Classical Marathi, Classical Pali and Classical Prakrit, providing dedicated institutional support for academic research and the wider dissemination of linguistic and literary heritage.
According to the Department of Higher Education, the centres will be established at five higher education institutions across the country. Tezpur University in Assam will host the Centre of Excellence for Classical Assamese, while Visva-Bharati University in West Bengal will house the centre for Classical Bengali.
The Center of Excellence for Classical Marathi will be set up at Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute, a deemed-to-be university in Pune, Maharashtra. The Central University of Odisha will host the centre for Classical Pali, while the Central University of Gujarat will establish the centre for Classical Prakrit.
The centres will provide platforms for advanced research, scholarly work and academic engagement in their respective languages. They will also support the documentation, preservation and digitisation of linguistic and literary resources to help conserve India’s textual heritage.
Another key focus will be to expand access to the literary, linguistic and knowledge traditions associated with these languages. The centres are also expected to strengthen regional academic ecosystems by creating dedicated institutional platforms for higher education, research and scholarship.
Spread across Assam, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Odisha and Gujarat, the initiative is aimed at strengthening the institutional framework for the study and preservation of classical languages.
The Ministry said the establishment of the centres would reinforce efforts to preserve and promote India’s linguistic and literary heritage while strengthening higher education institutions as centres of research and scholarship.
