KPSC exams to have question papers in Malayalam soon

All recruitment examinations, being conducted by the Kerala's Public Service Commission (PSC), will soon have question papers in native language Malayalam along with English.

The apex recruitment agency accepted the government's suggestion in this regard "in principle", Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said here on September 16 after he held discussions with PSC Chairman, M K Sakeer, at his office.

The government would also consider bringing out the PSC question papers in Kannada and Tamil, the minority languages in the state, in future, he added.

"The government has suggested to make available in Malayalam the question papers of all recruitment examinations conducted by the PSC, including Kerala Administrative Service (KAS). They have accepted the suggestion in principal and will take necessary action," Vijayan told reporters at the Secretariat.

The agency pointed out some practical difficulties in bringing out Malayalam question papers in technical subjects, he said.

The government would soon convene a meeting of the Vice Chancellors of universities to help the PSC to find solutions to resolve the difficulties.

A high-level committee would be constituted to study the issues in translating technical jargons into Malayalam and a dictionary, comprising technical terminology in various subjects, would be compiled, he added.

At present, PSC question papers are available in Malayalam for the exams which require eligibility up to Plus Two.

"So, 90 per cent of PSC exams are already conducted in Malayalam. Only in some examinations that the question papers are given in English," Vijayan said adding it has been decided to change this.

The Chief Minister held talks with the PSC in the wake of an indefinite agitation led by the Aikya Malayala Prasthanam (AMP), a pro-Malayalam outfit, demanding the agency to conduct all its exams in the mother tongue.

AMP's protest has been going here on for nearly one month.

The agitation, being held in front of the agency's headquarters here, gathered momentum after a number of eminent personalities including writers and cultural leaders extended support to the cause.

Legendary filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, who joined the hunger strike by the protesters on September 11, the Thiruvonam day, had severely criticised the PSC and said it must be "dissolved" if the agency was against the emotion showed by the people of the state.

Besides Gopalakrishnan, the stir also saw the participation of eminent poets, Sugatha Kumari and V Madhusudanan Nair and former Chief Minister and Congress leader Oommen Chandy here.

The protesters had accused the PSC of neglecting Malayalam despite it being made the administrative language of the state in 2017.

They also urged the state government and the PSC to give importance and conduct all its examinations in the native language as well as in English.