October 01, 2013

SPANISH IN INDIA

SPANISH IN INDIA
Brief introduction

The establishment of centres for the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language in India can be traced back to the year 1958 with the founding of the School of Foreign Languages under the agies of the Ministry of Defence, in New Delhi and also at the National Defence Academy in Khadagwasala; both of the said Institutions had limited accessibility as they were mainly for Government and Defence Officials. Much later in the 60s, the University of Delhi started to offer beginners’ level of Spanish for Indian students. Dr. Antonio Binimelis Sagrera was instrumental in putting Spanish Studies on the national map of academics in India. In 1970 Dr. Susnigdha Dey along with Dr. Antonio Binimelis Sagrera founded the Centre of Spanish Studies in the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Later on, Centre of Spanish Studies was renamed in 2004 as Centre of Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Latin American Studies.
With the foundation of the Centre of Spanish Studies in the Jawaharlal Nehru University, for the first time Graduate and Masters programme in Spanish was offered to Indian students. Expansion of this disciple got momentum in late 1990s after the liberalization of Indian economy which generated huge employment opportunities to Indian students and kindled greater interest amongst Indian students. Therefore, many Governmental Universities, Colleges and Institutes started offering courses in Spanish Language and moreover, many private Institutes started regular and business module courses across India. 
Apart from Government and private institutions, many foreign institutions also established their institutes in India like the Instituto Cervantes (Spain) and several diplomatic missions started beginners’ level Spanish courses in India like the Embassy of Peru in India. Recently many Governmental Institutions/Universities like the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi; Jamia Millia Islamia (Central University), New Delhi; Indra Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi; University of Rajasthan, Jaipur; Kurukshetra University, Haryana; Punjabi University, Patiala have introduced Spanish courses. Many more are formulating the courses which are to be launched.


No comments:

Post a Comment