Kerala to press for classical status for Malayalam

The Kerala government has decided to pursue with the Centre its demand for according a classical status for the Malayalam language, state minister for education and culture MA Baby said today.

The International Dravidan Language Study Centre in Thiruvananthapuram has been asked to prepare the necessary documents to support Kerala's request, Baby said while replying to CPI-M's MM Monaye's calling attention motion in the assembly.

An all party delegation led by chief minister VS Achuthanandan and opposition leader Oommen Chandy had a few months ago submitted a memorandum to prime minister Manmohan Singh on the matter, he said.

The prime minister had assured the delegation that the Centre would favourably consider the state's request, Baby said. The government also plans to hold a 'Malayalam language Convention', similar to the one conducted by the Tamil Nadu government for the Tamil language, he said.

The date of the convention would be decided later.

It has also been decided to make the teaching of the Malayalam language compulsory in all English medium schools in the state, he said. The schools with the central syllabus have also been asked to include the Malayalam language in their curriculum, he added.