Residents of Minicoy, the southernmost island in the Lakshadweep archipelago, are protesting against the decision to remove two languages, Mahal and Arabic, from the school curriculum. The directive is the latest issue to cause friction between the local population and Lakshadweep’s Administrator Praful Khoda Patel.
The order was issued by the Education Department on May 14 under the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2023.
Mahal, also known as the Maliku dialect, is a variant of Dhivehi, the official language of Maldives. The protests began in mid-May, after the island’s schools had closed for vacation on March 29. According to the new directive, both Malayalam and English medium schools in Minicoy will now offer Malayalam and English as the first and second languages, with Hindi replacing Mahal and Arabic as the third language. This marks a significant shift from the island’s longstanding language education practices.
While announcing the changes resulting in the removal of the two languages, the order said that the structure was based on recommendations of NEP 2020, aiming to ensure multilingual exposure from early classes. “It gives due importance to the mother tongue/regional language for cognitive development while introducing English and Hindi in a developmentally appropriate and pedagogically sound manner.”
The islands have been restive ever since Praful Khoda Patel, a former MLA from Gujarat considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, took over as Administrator of Lakshadweep in December 2020. Residents have been protesting against restrictions on food, evictions and fishing, imposed by the administration. The language issue is the latest issue that has brought the residents to the streets.
Protests in the roads of MinicoyMufeedudheen Monege
Speaking to TNM, filmmaker and Minicoy native Mufeedudheen Monege said, “Ever since the Administrator (Praful) has taken over, the lifestyle of citizens has been threatened. People are being arrested without a trial. The condition is sickening. With the deputy collector being the highest authority on the island, there’s little recourse left for us,” he said.
In a video made by Mufeedudheen on this issue, one of the islanders. Domthakur Keruge said, “This is our right. No matter how hard the administration goes against us, we will not back down—we will fight for our rights.”
Protest in MinicoyMufeedudheen Monege
Teachers have already submitted applications demanding that Mahal be reinstated in the curriculum. They also highlighted the poor quality of existing Mahal-language textbooks, which date back to 1968, and say they’ve been requesting updates for years.
“New timetables seem to have eliminated Mahal entirely. If our application is rejected, the government plans to transfer teachers to other islands and remove the language from Minicoy completely,” a teacher from Minicoy told TNM.
In a letter to the Administrator, Congress Lok Sabha MP Muhammed Hamdullah Sayeed said that Arabic was integral to the islanders’ religious practices and that Mahal was central to their cultural identity as the language spoken by their ancestors.
Mahal is spoken by the majority of Minicoy residents. It is the only island in Lakshadweep where Mahal is the mother tongue, as other islands primarily speak Malayalam.
Many islanders believe the move is a targeted attempt to undermine their identity, as nearly 97% of Lakshadweep’s population is Muslim.
Praful has been criticised for several decisions, including the imposition of the Goonda Act despite the island’s low crime rates, promotion of alcohol in the Muslim-majority region, and road widening projects that destroyed homes, even though the island has only a limited number of vehicles, most of them two-wheelers. The administration’s decision to acquire ancestral properties of islanders, claiming they are government land has also sparked protests.
These decisions sparked the larger #SaveLakshadweep movement, which began in 2021 and continues to grow as locals resist what they describe as authoritarian governance that threatens their land, culture, and identity.
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