Confusion prevails: Language woes to stay

Thiruvananthapuram: Though the State Government had taken into consideration the apprehensions of  CBSE schools while framing legislation to make Malayalam mandatory in all schools across the state including CBSE, ICSE, self-financing, aided, unaided and government schools, there were some issues yet to be sorted out. The decision to restrict the decision to make Malayalam compulsory at high school level was taken following the demand of CBSE managements. Last week, the cabinet planned to enact a law to make it mandatory for all schools to teach Malayalam till higher secondary classes. However, it was later decided to make it compulsory only till standard X.

Another decision was against making the writing of Malayalam examinations compulsory for other state and foreign students to pass Class X. This was even while the ordinance made it clear that it was applicable to all government, aided and including those affiliated to CBSE and ICSE streams,. There was also a decision that it would not be applicable to linguistic minorities. Kerala CBSE School Managements Association General Secretary Indira Rajan told Deccan Chronicle that the government had made it clear that students from other states need not write examinations. However, these students had to learn Malayalam even though they need not write examinations, Ms Rajan pointed out.

It would add pressure to students who were preparing for public examinations as they had to study an additional subject even though they did not have to write the examinations. “Many students hailing from other states are calling me and expressing their anxieties,” Ms Rajan said. All CBSE schools across the State were following compulsory Malayalam learning up to Class VIII.  CBSE had provided the optional language facility to give a national outlook and help students to pursue their studies even when migrating to other states, Ms Rajan said. However, the association welcomed the decision to make Malayalam compulsory for students with Malayalam as mother tongue, Mr Rajan said.

Sources said that most students have the option to study Special English instead of Malayalam. Some schools also provide French as another option. Jyothis Chandran, Chairman of Jyothis Central School, Kazhakuttom said that in Classes IX and X, it was an optional subject. Only one more language other than English had to be taught in these classes. “Many students from other states study here when their parents get transferred to the state. It was injustice to ask them to learn Malayalam,” Mr Chandran said. The LDF while framing the ordinance for making Malayalam compulsory had made adequate precautions to do away with legal hurdles which they had to face as some CBSE schools moved the court whenever the government insisted.

The government has already made it clear that it planned to frame a law to make it mandatory to teach Malayalam in all schools till higher secondary classes. The cabinet took the decision after it was brought to the government’s notice that the mother tongue was not being taught in some schools of the state. As a prelude to enacting a law, an ordinance was issued on Monday. The decision for legislation was following the fact that the instructions by the previous governments to make it mandatory were not followed by some schools. In September 2012, a division bench of the Kerala High Court had struck down the rule framed by the government that made Malayalam teaching compulsory in CBSE schools pointing out that students from other states were also studying in ICSE and CBSE schools.

In April 2013, Indo-American International School at Vagamon in Kottayam challenged the decision of the state government to insist on teaching Malayalam, even after the High Court’s direction in favour of schools. Giving a ruling in favour of the school, Justice P N Ravindran pointed out that a division bench of the high court had struck down these rules along with the requirement for three acres of land proposed by the Government as a prerequisite for issuing NOCs. Justice Ravindran while considering the case court asked the district educational officer of Kanjirappally to forward the application submitted by the petitioner, to the Director of Public Instruction, who in turn should forward it to the government so that an appropriate decision was taken.

The present ordinance clearly stated that schools should not impose any direct or indirect ban against speaking Malayalam. It also states that no boards should be erected in the campus directing students to use any language other than Malayalam. At present Sanskrit and Arabic schools do not teach Malayalam as a subject. The present decision would mean that these schools would also have to teach Malayalam till high school. Apart from that, schools of linguistic minorities like Tamil and Kannada also do not teach Malayalam at present.   However, the government has made it clear that these schools have been exempted from teaching Malayalam.

Sahodaya welcomes decision

Malappuram Sahodaya School Complex has welcomed the decision of the Kerala Government making Malayalam mandatory for all schools. “The Kerala government took a concrete decision to make the Malayalam compulsory,” said M.Abdul Nazar Treasurer All Kerala Sahodaya School Complex. “We request the authorities to arrange facilities for CBSE students, who are studying various languages, in the Constitutional Schedule, to write an approved Malayalam Language Proficiency Test conducted by the State Education Department, SCERT and State Literacy Mission and issue a certificate. Besides as an initiative to promote the mother tongue, we request the Government to stop English medium divisions in Government and Aided schools in the state,” he said. He added that the Government working to spread Malayalam and at the same time granting permission to Government and Aided schools to start more English medium divisions, was a double standard.