Malayalam Language Bill 2025: What happens when language laws enter schools

The Malayalam Language Bill 2025 has triggered an inter-state dispute not over identity, but over schooling. By making Malayalam compulsory as a first language in Classes 1–10, the law raises questions about how safeguards for linguistic minorities will work in border districts like Kasaragod. The debate turns on a familiar fault line: Where language promotion ends, and classroom compulsion begins.