THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State Government has issued an order making Malayalam the compulsory first language in schools.
The order has details on the distribution of periods for Malayalam learning, teaching of text books and conduct of examinations, General Education secretary M Shivasankar told Express. The order was issued two or three days ago, he said.
The main highlight is to give an opportunity to study Malayalam in all schools in Kerala and make Malayalam the first language. With this decision the number of Malayalam periods would be raised and number of teachers too would go up.
However, the order will not be applicable for students with Kannada and Tamil as their first language.
They can study their mother tongue as the first language. However, they have to study Malayalam as the second language.
This will be applicable to oriental schools also. The State Government had earlier decided not to reduce the duration of IT period as planned earlier for giving more periods to Malayalam.
The order was in place of an earlier order which had stipulated more periods for Malayalam by reducing the lunch time or scheduling classes after school time,sources said.