Education Ministry sets up 5 Centres of Excellence for Classical Languages
Synopsis
Five new Centres of Excellence for Classical Assamese, Bengali, Marathi, Pali, and Prakrit have been approved by the Education Ministry — the first concrete institutional follow-through since these languages were granted classical status in 2024. Spread across five universities in five states, the centres will combine advanced research with large-scale digitisation of India's textual heritage.
Key Takeaways
The Union Education Ministry has approved five Centres of Excellence for classical languages on 3 October 2026 .
Languages covered: Classical Assamese , Classical Bengali , Classical Marathi , Classical Pali , and Classical Prakrit .
Host institutions: Tezpur University (Assam), Visva-Bharati University (West Bengal), Deccan College (Pune), Central University of Odisha , and Central University of Gujarat .
Centres will focus on advanced research , digitisation of manuscripts and literary resources, and wider dissemination of classical knowledge traditions.
The initiative follows the government's 2024 decision to grant classical language status to all five languages.
The Union Education Ministry on 3 October 2026 approved the establishment of five Centres of Excellence (CoEs) dedicated to Classical Assamese, Classical Bengali, Classical Marathi, Classical Pali, and Classical Prakrit — a coordinated institutional push to preserve, research, and digitise India's classical linguistic heritage. The announcement was made by an official of the Ministry's Department of Higher Education.
Where the Centres Will Be Located
The five CoEs will be distributed across as many states. The Classical Assamese CoE will be established at Tezpur University in Assam; the Classical Bengali CoE at Visva-Bharati University in West Bengal; the Classical Marathi CoE at Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute (Deemed to be University) in Pune, Maharashtra; the Classical Pali CoE at the Central University of Odisha; and the Classical Prakrit CoE at the Central University of Gujarat.
What the Centres Will Do
Each CoE is designed to serve as a dedicated institutional platform for advanced academic research, scholarly engagement, and knowledge production in its respective classical language. Beyond research, the centres will undertake documentation, preservation, and digitisation of linguistic and literary resources — an effort aimed at the long-term conservation of India's textual heritage, which includes manuscripts, commentaries, and oral traditions that remain inadequately archived.
The initiative also envisions wider public and academic dissemination of classical language traditions, making knowledge more accessible to researchers, students, and cultural institutions across the country.
Regional Ecosystem and Higher Education Impact
By spreading the centres across Assam, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Gujarat, the Ministry is deliberately reinforcing regional higher-education ecosystems rather than centralising classical language scholarship in a single institution. This approach aligns with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020's emphasis on promoting Indian languages and classical knowledge systems at the institutional level.
Notably, the selection of host institutions — ranging from a century-old heritage university like Visva-Bharati to a specialised post-graduate research institute like Deccan College — reflects an attempt to embed the CoEs within existing centres of disciplinary expertise rather than building parallel structures from scratch.
Broader Policy Context
The move follows the Union government's 2024 decision to grant classical language status to Assamese, Bengali, Marathi, Pali, and Prakrit — a status that entitles languages to dedicated funding and institutional support. The CoEs are a direct institutional follow-through on that status grant, translating a policy designation into brick-and-mortar academic infrastructure.
India currently recognises a total of eleven classical languages, including Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Odia, each with its own support structures. The five new CoEs bring the recently elevated languages into a comparable institutional framework.
With host universities identified and the Ministry's approval formalised, the next phase will involve operationalising the centres — appointing faculty, establishing research programmes, and launching digitisation projects — timelines for which have not yet been officially specified.
Point of View
But the real measure of success will be faculty recruitment, research output, and digitisation targets over the next five years. India's manuscript wealth remains dangerously under-digitised, and without binding timelines and outcome metrics, these centres risk becoming prestige announcements rather than working research engines. The spread across five states is politically smart, but coordination between the centres — to avoid duplication and enable cross-linguistic scholarship — will require active Ministry oversight that past similar programmes have not always sustained.
NationPress
3 Oct 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Which five classical languages will have new Centres of Excellence in India?
The five languages are Classical Assamese, Classical Bengali, Classical Marathi, Classical Pali, and Classical Prakrit. The Union Education Ministry approved dedicated Centres of Excellence for each on 3 October 2026.
Where will the five Centres of Excellence for classical languages be located?
Classical Assamese at Tezpur University in Assam; Classical Bengali at Visva-Bharati University in West Bengal; Classical Marathi at Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute in Pune; Classical Pali at Central University of Odisha; and Classical Prakrit at Central University of Gujarat.
What will these Centres of Excellence actually do?
The centres will support advanced academic research, documentation, preservation, and digitisation of linguistic and literary heritage associated with their respective classical languages. They will also work to disseminate knowledge traditions more widely to researchers and the public.
Why were these five languages chosen for Centres of Excellence?
All five languages — Assamese, Bengali, Marathi, Pali, and Prakrit — were granted classical language status by the Union government in 2024, entitling them to dedicated institutional support. The CoEs are the direct follow-through on that status designation.
How does this fit into India's broader classical language policy?
India currently recognises eleven classical languages in total. The new CoEs bring the five most recently elevated languages in line with the institutional support structures that exist for earlier classical languages such as Tamil, Sanskrit, and Odia, as envisioned under the National Education Policy 2020.
