Thousands
in Goa demand English as medium of instruction
Monday March 21, 2011 09:12:41 PM,
IANS
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Related Articles |
English
or Konkani: Goa debates on what to use in schools
Lawmakers and
parents in Goa are debating whether English or mother tongue Konkani
should be the medium of instruction (MOI) in schools upto Class 8.
Education Minister Atanasio Monserrate told the Goa legislative
assembly Friday that
» |
Panaji: Thousands of
people, mostly parents of school-going children and nearly all of Goa's Catholic legislators, converged here Monday demanding that
grants must be given to primary schools offering English as the
medium of instruction.
The rally organised by the Forum for Rights of Children's Education
(FORCE), comes in the wake of the Right to Education (RTE) Act,
which envisions the child's mother tongue as the medium of
instruction - Konkani in case of Goa.
The act is scheduled to be ratified in the state assembly soon.
"The parents have the right to choose what medium their child should
study in. The government should de-link grants from medium of
instruction clause. Grants should also be given to schools offering
English as a medium of instruction, not just Konkani or Marathi,"
said Savio Lopes, secretary of FORCE.
The rally attracted around 15,000 people, who had braved the
blistering March heat.
The Goa government in 1991 had announced its decision to grant aid
only to primary schools where the medium of instruction is either
Konkani or Marathi, keeping English medium schools off the list.
Most Catholic Church-run schools in Goa had then shifted to Konkani
medium for want of government aid.
This in turn, led to a spurt in the number of private schools
offering primary education in English at exorbitant fees.
Former speaker Tomazinho Cardozo, who was headmaster of a
diocesan-run school, said: "This is a conspiracy against diocesan
schools. The circular denying grants to English medium schools also
says that there should be no more permissions for the starting of
private English schools.
But since then more than 127 private English medium schools have
come up with the permission of the government. It is to put down the
diocesan schools."
Most schools operated by the Archdiocesan Board of Education, a
Church run-body, will not receive grants if they adopt English as
the medium of instruction.
Goa has a Catholic population of nearly 26 percent and the Roman
Catholic Church is very active in the social and educational
sectors.
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