Kerala launches 'Malayalashree' project to introduce Malayalam in Oriental schools

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 7 (PTI) The Kerala government on Tuesday launched the 'Malayalashree' project to provide students of oriental schools in the state an opportunity to learn Malayalam as their mother tongue, along with Sanskrit and Arabic.

The project was inaugurated by Minister for General Education and Labour V Sivankutty, who said denying children the right to learn their mother tongue was equivalent to distancing them from their own land and culture.

He said the government was ending this injustice through the new initiative.

Though the project had received government approval in 2011, it was not fully implemented earlier, he said.

The present government has realised it with determination, the minister said.

With the launch of 'Malayalashree', students of 38 oriental schools functioning across nine districts in Kerala will be able to study Malayalam, an official statement said quoting him.

The syllabus has been prepared under the leadership of the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), based on equivalency textbooks of the Literacy Mission, it said.

Public examinations will be conducted in the current academic year itself for Classes 7 and 10.

A total of 2,105 students in Class 7 and 2,445 students in Class 10 are expected to appear for the examinations, he said.

While the Class 7 examination will be conducted by the Literacy Mission, the Class 10 examination will be conducted by the Pareeksha Bhavan here, the statement added.

Oriental schools are state-run or aided schools focusing on learning in Sanskrit, Arabic and so on. PTI LGK SA