When Afghan children spoke in Malayalam to Kerala’s General Education Minister V. Sivankutty-OxBig News Network

“So, who’s our Prime Minister?” Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty asked in Malayalam, smiling at the five children seated before him at Rose House, his official residence, on Sunday (July 13, 2025) morning. “Narendra Modi,” came the answer from eleven-year-old Ahmad Mozamel Rahimi. Mr. Sivankutty shot off the next question, “Who’s our Chief Minister?” The young Afghan boy paused only for a moment before replying, “Pinarayi Vijayan.” “And our Education Minister?” The mischievous query from Mr. Sivankutty sparked laughter all around.

Ahmad Mozamel Rahimi, his sister Marwa Rahimi (12) and brother Ahmad Mansoor Rahimi, 8 1/2 — all three students at the Government Higher Secondary School, Sreekaryam, were on a visit to Rose House with their younger siblings five-year-old Ahmad Maher Rahimi and three-and-a-half-year-old Mahnaz Rahimi. They were accompanied by their parents Shafiq Rahimi and Zarghona Rahimi and the children’s class teachers Beena M.V. and Latha R.

The family from Kabul moved to Thiruvananthapuram in 2021 when Mr. Shafiq Rahimi joined the Department of Economics of the University of Kerala as a Research Scholar in Economics. ”I met the children when I visited the school. So I invited the family over to have breakfast with us today. Our public schools have many students from outside Kerala and even from abroad,” Mr. Sivankutty said.

Mr. Rahimi had decided to move to Thiruvananthapuram on completing his post graduation in Hyderabad. Ms. Zarghona Rahimi is a homemaker. “Kerala is a very beautiful place. But this is our last year here. We will be returning soon,” he said. He says he had looked up Kerala before moving here. He described the southern Indian state as a very safe place to live in. The couple from Afghanistan has six children in all, but the eldest, 16-year-old Ahmad Moosawer Rahimi who is now a Plus One student here, was not present on Sunday.

Having spent some years in Kerala, the children, especially 11-year-old Mozamel, appear to have become quite adept in handling Malayalam, often considered a tough proposition for non-native speakers. “Nalla schoolaanu [It’s a good school], smart classrooms, Nalla teachers,” he said, when the Minister wanted to know whether they were comfortable at their State government-run school. At home, the children speak Dari, one of the two major languages of Afghanistan. The older children say they picked up Malayalam as well as Hindi speaking to friends at school.

The Afghan family living in Thiruvananthapuram pose for a photograph with General Education Minister V. Sivankutty and his wife R. Parvathy Devi on Sunday:
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Special arrangement

On being told that the family would be returning next year, Mr. Sivankutty encouraged the youngsters to tell their Afghan friends to visit Kerala.

On their arrival at Rose House on Sunday morning, the family was warmly welcomed by R. Parvathy Devi, the Minister’s wife and a former member of the Kerala Public Service Commission. After breakfast, the Afghan family also posed for a photograph with the Minister and his wife.

The Sreekaryam school’s School Management Committee chairman Suresh Kumar S. and the Parent Teacher Association president Gopakumar R. were also present.