Thiruvananthapuram: Days after Kerala officially became Keralam, Malayalam became the sole official language of administration in the state on Wednesday. Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar on Wednesday signed the Malayalam Language Bill 2025, giving the local tongue another official title after the classical language tag.

The Bill, which the Assembly passed in October 2025, faced opposition from the Karnataka government, which was concerned that it would compel students from linguistic minorities living in border regions to learn Malayalam compulsorily.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had tried to allay concerns by pointing out that the Bill contains an unambiguous non-obstante clause to safeguard the rights of linguistic minorities, particularly the Kannada- and Tamil-speaking communities.

The Bill mandates Malayalam as the compulsory first language in all government and aided schools in Kerala up to Class 10. It also mandates steps to promote the dissemination of Malayalam across all schools in the state.

The Bill further states that students from other states and foreign countries studying in Kerala whose mother tongue is not Malayalam shall be exempted from writing the examination in Malayalam in Class 9, Class 10, and the Higher Secondary level.