The 19-day protest outside the Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC) office in Thiruvananthapuram, demanding that questions in all PSC exams be given in Malayalam too, has ended on Monday, after the Chief Minister’s press conference promising to address the concern.
“The questions in PSC exams which need Plus 2 as the basic qualification are already in Malayalam. Ninety per cent of the exams follow it. The protest is for giving questions in the remaining exams also in Malayalam, in addition to English. They have pointed out practical difficulties and it will be addressed in a meeting attended by Vice Chancellors and PSC chairman,” the CM said.
The Samyuktha Samara Samithi – association of the different groups that held the protest – has accepted the CM’s statement and stopped the indefinite fast in front of the PSC office. Veteran filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, who has earlier extended his support to the demand, ended the protest by handing a glass of water to Anoop Valanchery, who was fasting at the venue.
The CM also said that a high level committee would be appointed to prepare an encyclopaedia for technical words which are currently not available in Malayalam. The protestors have welcomed this move and also accepted that the questions shall be provided in English as well.
The Samyuktha Samara Samithi would however continue to exist until these promises are implemented, it was said in a press release.
On Onam day, protests were held across the state, where people fasted with a message that there is no Onam without Malayalam. It was after an earlier protest, that candidates were allowed to write the answers in Malayalam. However, with the questions continuing to be in English in a few PSC exams, the protestors said that students from the Malayalam medium schools found it difficult to answer them in time. Various literary figures, cultural icons and political leaders had expressed solidarity with the demand.