KTS 5.0 programme

Dedicated portal

This website: a single place for programme administration, the registration of institutions, the nomination of students, content delivery and coordination among the participating agencies. It carries the registration of institutions, the nomination of students by the Participating Institutions, the candidate portal, the digital repository and the coordination hub of the partners.

Digital resources and supporting materials

A fully accessible repository of learning materials and research assets: the Thirukkural in the Indian languages and in foreign languages, research publications, the Thirukkural Multilingual App, the Thirukkural Ground-Truth Corpus of palm-leaf manuscripts, and related websites.

Nationwide publicity and student registration

A campaign across India, through the Nodal Institutions of the States/UTs, academic institutions, digital media and partner universities, invites institutions to the programme. The institutions register on this portal; the Nodal Institution of each State/UT selects the number of Participating Institutions prescribed for it, 1,000 in all, and each of them registers the student it has nominated.

• Eligibility: students of the selected Participating Institutions
• One student nominated on merit by each Participating Institution

Assessment and selection

Each selected Participating Institution assesses its interested students on their interest in and understanding of the Thirukkural, by a short written test (the portal offers an online test, in the language each student chooses), an oral interaction, a presentation, an essay, a quiz or a combination of these, and nominates one student on merit. The Nodal Institutions and CICT then verify the nominations.

• Assessments at the institutions: By 23 Nov 2026 · 30 minutes
• 50 objective multiple-choice questions · 2 marks each · no negative marking

Online orientation in 22 languages

A two-part series of academic video lectures on the Thirukkural, offered in the 22 scheduled languages, Tamil among them, and in English (23 languages in all): translated, dubbed or subtitled, delivered language by language, with a 20-minute live question-and-answer segment in each session.

One-month research and academic engagement

The selected students undertake a one-month research and academic engagement: structured study with CICT's multilingual study material, educational videos and academic orientation. Each eligible selected student is entitled to a stipend of ₹10,000, subject to the programme guidelines and completion of the prescribed requirements.

Student presentation and dissemination of knowledge

Each selected student prepares an original article or research note of at least 4 and not more than 10 pages under the guidance of a Faculty Supervisor/Guide, and presents the research at the institution during the engagement period in a one-hour presentation or lecture on the Thirukkural, with a PowerPoint (PPT) or another suitable presentation, so that each of the 1,000 campuses hears the couplets from one of its own students; the institution submits its video recording to CICT. The student and the institution post the news of KTS 5.0 on the student's social media and arrange for it to appear on the college's website and social media and in the local news media.