THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : The government is on a mission to teach Malayalam and Kerala culture to the children of non-resident Keralites, said Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.
“Classical language status for Malayalam will have a meaning when all Keralites know Malayalam. The Malayalam Mission has been entrusted with the challenging task of educating NRK kids,” Chandy said, after inaugurating the Classical Language Day celebrations organised by the Cultural Affairs Department on the Kanakakunnu palace premises on Saturday.
Speaking on the occasion, Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan said that administrative procedures in Malayalam would make democracy more attractive to the public. Chandy released the newly-announced ‘cultural song’ of Kerala (a poem penned by eminent poet late Bodheswaran) by handing over a copy to Achuthanandan. Chandy honoured music director M Jayachandran for composing the song.
The function witnessed the release of “Sruthilekhika”, a Malayalam dictation-computing software, “Ezhuthachan”, a Malayalam tutorial and an English-Malayalam translation software - all developed by the State Institute Of Languages in association with C-DAC.
Cultural Affairs Minister K C Joseph, K Muraleedharan MLA, former Union Minister O Rajagopal, poet Sugathakumari, Cultural Affairs secretary Rani George, SIL director M R Thampan and C-DAC executive director B Ramani attended.