Kerala CM urges PM to grant ''classical'' status to Malayalam

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 11 (PTI) Kerala Chief MinisterV S Achuthanandan today expressed the hope that PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh would consider the state''s demandfor granting ''classical'' status to Malayalam, the only SouthIndian language not to get the coveted ranking.

"This demand has been before the Prime Minister. We hopehe would consider it," Achuthanandan said, presiding over afunction where Singh presented the 43rd Jnanpith award toeminent Malayalam poet O N V Kurup.

The Chief Minister also sought the Prime Minister''sintervention for making Malayalam learning compulsory inKerala schools following central syllabuses.

"Learning English and Hindi are compulsory in schools thatfollow central board syllabuses. Malayalam is still out ofthem. We want the Prime Minister to intervene in this matterto ensure that the mother tongue (of Keralites) is notdiscriminated in schools that follow central syllabuses", hesaid.

The Kerala government had recently submitted a memorandumto the Prime Minister seeking classical status for Malayalam,claiming that it met all the parameters for inclusion in thatcategory along with other South Indian languages Tamil,Kannada and Telugu.