Department of general education cancels old order; LP and UP teachers should have learned Malayalam

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Malayalam must be studied compulsorily to become a teacher in LP and UP classes. In May 2018, the Department of General Education revoked the order issued by amending the law to make Malayalam compulsory. With this, the rule came into force again that if you want to teach in classes one to seven, you should have studied Malayalam as a subject along with other qualifications. Even though there was a strong protest in 2018 against the legal separation, the department was not ready to review the order. The 'aikyamalayala prasthanam' has raised the demand that those who teach the alphabet to children must know Malayalam. In this regard, a mass petition was also filed on November 23, 2018. Following this, the department decided to bring back the law on the basis of the reports given by the SCERT director and the official language high-level committee. This is the result of their five-year-long struggle.

The reply given by the committee appointed to study the order is that only those who have studied Malayalam as a subject up to a higher secondary level should be appointed to the posts of LPST and UPST. The order issued by the Department of General Education said that those admitted under the benefit of the order between 2018 and 2023 should face a qualifying test to prove their proficiency in Malayalam and must pass the test strictly. The Director of General Education is responsible for recommending the conduct of the qualifying examination.