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Demand for recruitment tests in Malayalam hots up

Last Updated 14 September 2019, 14:14 IST

Many cultural and social leaders in Kerala are up in arms demanding that all recruitment tests to higher posts in Kerala government services should be conducted in Malayalam too.

An indefinite strike by activists under the banner, 'Aikya Malayala Prasthanam' (United Malayalam Forum) has reached the 18th day on Saturday. With many leading personalities joining the stir, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will hold talks with the forum leaders on Monday.

Those raising the demand say that providing Malayalam as an option for all examinations conducted by the Kerala Public Service Commission (KPSC) would provide an equal opportunity to those who are not skilled in English. Even civil services examination could be taken in the mother tongue, they say.

Meanwhile, those opposing the demand cite practical issues in conducting examinations in subjects like science in Malayalam. Also, if Malayalam option is given for all examinations, the Kannada and Tamil speaking linguistic minorities in Kerala could also raise demands for examinations in their languages also.

R Ajayan, a leader of the forum, said that mother tongue was a Constitutional right of every citizen and most other states were giving citizens the option to take examinations in their mother tongue.

KPSC former chairman Dr K S Radhakrishnan said that conducting all recruitment tests would pose many practical challenges, especially with regard to translation of scientific works to the mother tongue. If Kannada and Tamil speaking linguistic minorities in Kerala also raised such a demand, it would also require service of experts in those languages for translation and valuation, that too without affecting the secrecy of the recruitment process.

The medium of education in Kerala above tenth-standard is English and hence it would need not be a problem for candidates to take recruitment tests to higher posts in government services in English, he said.

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(Published 14 September 2019, 13:57 IST)

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