Mangaluru: Prompted by more than 300 students appearing for the Tulu examination in class 10 in the current academic year, the Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy has planned to encourage at least 20 more schools to teach Tulu in the new academic year.

The government introduced Tulu as the third optional language in schools, from class 6 onwards, in 2010-11. Now 20 schools teach Tulu in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi.

According to B. Chandrahasa Rai, Registrar of the academy, 956 students now study Tulu in 20 schools.

In the third batch of class 10 students, 313 students writing Tulu examination this month will pass out this year. The second batch (of class 10) had 25 students opting for Tulu and the first batch had only 18. Mr. Rai said that the academy had now requested 13 more schools to introduce Tulu. They have shown positive response.

Some more schools will be requested to have Tulu in at least 40 schools in the academic year 2017-18. He said of the 20 schools having Tulu now, only one school in Udupi had it and the remaining were in Dakshina Kannada, with Puttur taluk having it in 12 schools.

The academy has already written to the government to introduce Tulu at the Pre-University level. With Tulu cinema industry inching forward with 79 cinemas so far and Tulu wikipedia going live last year, the academy intends to make Tulu stronger in schools to push the demand further for including it in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju, in a written reply to question by Shobha Karandlaje and Hariom Singh Rathore in the Lok Sabha on July 26, 2016, said that there are demands for the inclusion of 38 more languages, including Tulu, in the Eighth Schedule.

“The government is conscious of the sentiments and requirements for inclusion of other languages in the Eighth Schedule, and will examine the requests keeping in mind the sentiments, and other considerations such as evolution of dialects into language, widespread use of a language etc.,” he said.