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SINGAPORE : A new society has been launched to promote the teaching and learning of another south Indian language, Malayalam, in Singapore.
The Malayalam Language Education Society of Singapore was officiated by Law Minister and MP for Sembawang GRC, K Shanmugam, on Saturday.
Malayalam is the principal language of the south Indian state of Kerala and there are about 25,000 Malayalees in Singapore.
The Malayalee community forms the second largest Indian ethnic community in Singapore after the Tamils.
Organisers feel the use of the language amongst the Malayalam community in Singapore has diminished over the years, and the third and fourth generation Malayalee Singaporeans are not conversant in it.
The new Society hopes to help them by conducting 'conversational' Malayalam classes.
Another goal that the Society hopes to achieve is that of giving a Malayalee child an option to study Malayalam as a Mother Tongue Language.
The Society said it plans to apply for membership to the Board of Teaching & Testing of South Asian Languages.
This Board oversees the delivery of instruction by the Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi and Urdu community groups and standardises the examinations across the various communities.
The intention is to give young Malayalee children at pre-primary, Primary One and Two levels to learn Malayalam, and also conversational Malayalam for those who want to speak the language.
Eventually the intention is to prepare them and have a curriculum and standard which is acceptable to the Ministry of Education so that it can be offered as an examination subject.
Mr Shanmugam said: "It is an initiative to be welcomed as Malayalam has a rich tradition, (it is) culturally a very rich language as well, and people who are Malayalees should be encouraged to access and strengthen their roots and that does not detract in any way from being Singaporean.
"That is the way the government encourages all of us to access our own cultural roots as we are proud of our tradition, and at the same time, realising that we are Singaporeans first, we also have our cultural identity and in that context, this is to be welcome and supported." - CNA/ms
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