With the Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC) agreeing to hold examinations in Malayalam, the General Education Department has directed the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) to prepare a technical dictionary by including more subjects to ensure that the PSC aspirants can understand the Malayalam translation of technical words and jargon at ease.
SCERT has already compiled a technical dictionary in Malayalam for History, Geography, Economics, Political Science, Sociology, Philosophy, Mathematics, Statistics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Commerce and Computer Science. Since PSC examinations have more subjects, SCERT has started preparing a dictionary for Islamic History, Electronics, Geology, Gandhian Studies, Journalism, Home Science, Social work and Psychology.
According to a senior officer of General Education Department, the new version of the technical dictionary will be useful for many PSC aspirants as the medium of instruction in PSC examinations for the vacancies requiring degree-level qualification is English. Since Malayalam has been made the medium of instruction in all PSC examinations, the technical dictionary is a must for aspirants as they can understand the Malayalam translation of technical words easily. Efforts are on to include more subjects.
"Though the Malayalam translation of technical words used in subjects such as Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics is quite known, we have prepared the dictionary for all technical words which are lesser-known too," an officer said. Though SCERT plans to publish the dictionary as textbooks, sources said it would take more time considering the cost for the same. Now, the dictionary is available only on the website textbooksall.blogspot.com.
The website has 13 subjects which are included in the higher secondary curriculum. "We are preparing the dictionary based on feedback from the people. The dictionary which was prepared is for higher secondary students who attempt NEET exams. We had decided to prepare the dictionary after making Malayalam as an option in writing NEET exam. Later, we prepared it with the support of the state government and the public. Now, we are expanding it for PSC aspirants. We will make sure that aspirants digest the words easily. We will also make a printed edition soon based on support from the government," said J Prasad, director, SCERT-Kerala.
