Thiruvananthapuram: Malayalam will be made a compulsory subject in all schools in Kerala if the Left Democratic Front is voted back to power in the April 13 assembly elections, its manifesto says.

Currently even in the state-run schools, Malayalam is not a compulsory and in Class 10, students can opt for special English instead of it.

Likewise, schools that offer the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) curriculum provide students the option of choosing between Malayalam, French or Hindi.

Education Minister M.A. Baby has already warned that strict action would be taken against schools that don't offer Malayalam.

Last month, Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, at an event where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh conferred the prestigious Jnanapeeth award for the year 2007 to eminent Malayali poet O.N.V. Kurup, requested Manmohan Singh to ensure that the rules are amended so that Malayalam is made a compulsory subject in schools that offer the CBSE and ICSE curricula.

According to official figures, there are 12,649 schools in the state, of which 4,501 are government schools, 7,284 are aided schools and 864 are unaided schools.

Besides these, there are 764 CBSE and 108 ICSE schools. IANS