ArdorComm Media News Network
October 5, 2026
The Ministry of Education has approved the establishment of five Centres of Excellence dedicated to the study and preservation of classical Assamese, Bengali, Pali, Prakrit and Marathi, officials said.
The centres will focus on strengthening academic research, digitising linguistic resources and preserving, promoting and disseminating the rich literary and cultural heritage associated with these languages.
The Centres of Excellence will be established at five institutions across the country. Tezpur University in Assam will host the centre for Assamese, while Visva-Bharati University will undertake studies related to Bengali.
The Central University of Odisha will house the Centre of Excellence for Pali, the Central University of Gujarat will focus on Prakrit, and the Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute in Pune will host the centre dedicated to Marathi.
Welcoming the initiative, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi highlighted the significance of the Pali centre at the Central University of Odisha. He said the initiative would strengthen the study, preservation and promotion of Pali, which has played an important role in India’s intellectual, spiritual and cultural traditions.
The proposed centres are expected to create stronger academic ecosystems around the five classical languages through research, digital preservation and wider dissemination of linguistic and cultural knowledge.
The initiative marks an institutional effort to support the preservation of India’s diverse linguistic heritage while creating greater opportunities for scholarly research and education in classical languages.
Source: PTI