The Kerala High Court on June 5 deferred the implementation of the three-language formula in the Lakshadweep islands, excluding the local languages, Mahal and Arabic, from the school syllabus. A division bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and Basant Balaji was hearing the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Ajas Akber, the National Student Union president of Lakshadweep.
The petitioner contended that the order issued on May 14 by the Lakshadweep administration was disturbing the position that had been maintained for almost 70 years. The petitioner had also sought an interim stay on the order as the schools were set to reopen on June 9, 2025.
“Considering the prima facie case and the urgency, we direct that the implementation of the impugned office order dated 14 May 2025 will stand deferred till further orders,” the court ordered.
The counsel for the Union government submitted that the implementation of the order would not commence on 9 June 2025 but from July 1, so there was no necessity of passing an interim order at present. The matter has been adjourned to June 9.
Mahal and Arabic are considered local languages in the southernmost island of Lakshadweep, Minicoy. Arabic gained its importance due to the Island’s majority community’s religious practices. Mahal, spoken largely in Minicoy, is a variant of Dhivehi, the official language of the Maldives.
The Education Department of Lakshadweep had issued an order that sought to replace the Mahal and Arabic with Hindi under the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) on May 14, 2025.
As per this order, in Minicoy, Hindi will be replacing both the local languages – Mahal and Arabic – whereas Malayalam and English are to be taught as first and second languages in schools as per the order. The authorities said that this decision was taken based on the recommendations in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
Read more:Residents protest in Lakshadweep as Hindi replaces Mahal and Arabic in schools