Kerala Schools to Teach 'Konkani' From Next Year

KOCHI: Here is a happy news for Konkani language lovers in the State. Konkani will be a language of study in schools of Kerala from the next academic year.

The Bharatiya Konkani Bhasha Vikas Sabha (BKBVS) has been entrusted with the task of preparing textbooks for Konkani language, to be taught in Class-V to Class-VII.

Though the State Government had issued an order in 2010 to make Konkani part of the school curriculum, it was not adhered to for want of textbooks. “The textbooks proposed for Class-V to Class-VII are expected to be ready by the next academic year. The textbooks for Kerala schools are being prepared in Malayalam script,” said BKBVS general secretary  P R Shanmukham.

Konkani, an Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-European language family, is the official language of Goa. It is mainly spoken by people in the Konkan Coast (Western Coast of India). It is one of the 22 scheduled languages mentioned in the Constitution. The language is also spoken in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala (Kasargod district), Dadra/Nagar Haveli and Daman/Diu.

In Kerala, members of the Goud Saraswat Brahmin community and Kudumbi community are  the main speakers of Konkani. “There was a dispute as to which language should be used to prepare the textbooks. Though discussions were held at the government level, the issue was not sorted out. Later, it was decided to prepare the textbooks in Malayalam script for the Kudumbi community and in the Aryan script for Goud Swarasat Brahmins,” said Shanmukham.

The KBKVS will organise a workshop for language experts for preparing the textbooks. “What makes the initiative important is that it is the first time  textbooks are being prepared in a Dravidian language, that too in Malayalam script. Konkani language experts belonging to the Kudumbi community  who wish to attend the workshop may contact the BKBVS before December 15,” he added.