Shillong, Oct 12: A delegation of the Khasi Authors’ Society (KAS) on Thursday met chief minister Mukul Sangma and demanded from the State government to speed up the process of getting Khasi language included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

During the meeting, the delegation was told by the chief minister that the issue has to be studied further by an advisory committee which will be constituted by the State government soon.

The KAS also demanded that more experts particularly linguists should be included in the advisory committee and take steps to speed up the move to get the language included in the Eighth Schedule.

The KAS also asked the government to ensure that the Modern Indian Language (Khasi) is restored as compulsory subject for students studying in class-XI and class-XII of arts, science and commerce streams after the Meghalaya Board of School Education, through a notification dated 5^th September, 2013, removed MIL (Khasi) as compulsory subject.

Stating that other languages of tribals in the region like Manipuri and Bodo have been in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, the KAS told Mukul, “the unfortunate reality lies in the fact that Khasi language which has had a longer history in terms of academic development is yet to be given its due recognition.”

Khasi language along with Garo language had been recognized as “associate official language” in the state under the Meghalaya State Language Act, 2005.