Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government on Wednesday launched the ‘Malayalashree’ project, aimed at offering students in oriental schools across the state a chance to study Malayalam as their mother tongue alongside Sanskrit and Arabic.

The programme was formally launched by General Education and Labour Minister V Sivankutty, who noted that depriving children of the right to learn their mother tongue ultimately alienates them from their homeland and cultural roots.

He added that the new project seeks to correct this long-standing wrong.

Although the scheme secured government approval back in 2011, it had not been fully implemented earlier, he recalled.

The present administration has now implemented it with strong resolve, the minister said.

With the introduction of ‘Malayalashree’, pupils from 38 oriental schools operating in nine districts of Kerala will now be able to study Malayalam, according to an official release quoting him.

The curriculum was designed by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), drawing on equivalency textbooks from the Literacy Mission.

Public examinations will be held in the current academic year itself for students of Classes 7 and 10.

Altogether, 2,105 students in Class 7 and 2,445 students in Class 10 are expected to sit for the exams, he said.

While the Class 7 examinations will be overseen by the Literacy Mission, the Class 10 exams will be administered by the Pareeksha Bhavan, the release added.

Oriental schools are government-run or aided institutions that primarily emphasise instruction in subjects such as Sanskrit and Arabic.