[lg policy] Kerala (India): CM: Knowledge of Malayalam a must

[Harold Schiffman]

CM: Knowledge of Malayalam a must

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Government service in the State should be
restricted to those who can handle the Malayalam language well, Chief
Minister V S Achuthanandan opined on Sunday. Inaugurating the
‘Malayalam Week’ observance here in connection with the ‘Kerala Piravi
Day,’ the Chief Minister called for a debate on the issue, and
amendments in rules if necessary. “If Malayalam is to be made the
administrative language, then all Government officials should be able
to handle it well. But many are unable to do that,” he said. “Today
you can enter the Government service in the State without any
knowledge of Malayalam. It should be examined whether this situation
can be changed. My opinion is, it should be ensured that only people
who can write and read Malayalam well are taken into the service,” he
said, adding that the Public Service Commission also should take the
matter into consideration.

The State Government will soon try to take a decision on setting up a
university for study of Malayalam language and the culture of the
State, the Chief Minister said.  He called for a system whereby the
mother tongue is introduced in all schools including Kendriya
Vidyalayas.  India was a country that had in principle accepted a
tri-language policy in school education, but the Centre had not been
vigilant enough to implement it, he said. The Malayalam Mission will
launch a website for helping Malayalam training centres abroad to
teach the language. Online training also will be started, he said.
Poet Sugathakumari presided over the function. The Chief Minister
released an administrative language copy of ‘Janapatham’ by handing
over a copy to Dr Panmana Ramachandran Nair.

Deshamangalam Ramakrishnan, principal secretary to the Chief Minister
Sheela Thomas, Official Languages secretary T Thankappan, Information
and Public Relations director M Nandakumar were present.

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=CM:+Knowledge+of+Malayalam+a+must&artid=qXGI%7CDMVOwE=&SectionID=lMx/b5mt1kU=&MainSectionID=lMx/b5mt1kU=&SEO=&SectionName=tm2kh5uDhixGlQvAG42A/07OVZOOEmts

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