Move to remove Arabic, Mahal from schools in Lakshadweep ‘deeply disturbing’: Kerala minister

The Lakshadweep administration’s decision to remove Arabic and Mahal languages from the school curriculum in the Union Territory is “deeply disturbing”, said Kerala Education Minister V Sivankutty on Wednesday, according to PTI.

On May 14, the Education Department of the Union Territory issued a directive on the removal of the two languages under the 2023 National Curriculum Framework, which is a set of guidelines for teaching practices, textbooks and syllabi in Indian schools.

The framework is a key part of the 2020 National Education Policy.

The Mahal language, also known as the Maliku dialect, is a variant of Dhivehi, which is the official language of the Maldives. It retains elements of older Maldivian but also has Malayalam influences.

The May 14 directive stated that both Malayalam and English medium schools in Minicoy, the southernmost island in the Lakshadweep archipelago, would now offer Malayalam and English as the first and second languages, with Hindi replacing Mahal and Arabic as the third language, Newslaundry reported

The decision to remove the two languages from the school curriculum had led to protests in the Union Territory.

On Wednesday, Sivankutty stated that the move to remove the languages, taken “under the guise of implementing the National Education Policy”, contradicted the Union government’s commitment to promoting mother tongues and regional diversity in education,...

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