It’s been a year since Delhi University announced a specialised course in Hindi language for foreign students, but there’s still no further development on that front. Last year, the varsity made an announcement to introduce the course for its foreign students, specifically students from the African continent.

According to some students, there is a communication gap between them and their fellow Indian students due to lack of understanding of the Hindi language. “There is always a communication gap between us and our fellow Indian students. We don’t even know basic Hindi,” says a second-year foreign student at the varsity.

“We would like to learn basic Hindi if the varsity provides us a short-term course in it. It would help us to bridge that understanding gap,” he added.

“I have been living in India for the last three years and now I can understand basic Hindi, but I still can’t communicate in the language. Initially, it was very difficult for me to comprehend the language,” said another foreign student.

Even Indian students at the varsity said that the knowledge of basic Hindi would help foreign students in interacting with their classmates more effectively. “Most of the time it’s language which becomes a major understanding barrier between foreign and Indian students studying together. That’s why we generally see foreign students living in their own groups,” said Ritika Sharma, a third-year student at Delhi University.

The officials at the varsity, however, said that the project is still in the pipeline and can be implemented anytime soon. “Projects like these take time in implementation. This is also in the pipeline and we want to introduce it with an immediate effect,” says Prof Amrit Kaur Basra, Deputy Dean of the Department of Foreign Students, Delhi University.

The decision of introducing the course was taken after several attacks on African natives in the national capital last year. “Every year thousands of African nationals come to India for study or work. But frequent incidents of alleged racial attacks on them make things difficult for them,” she said.