|
Goa
Church backs English as teaching medium
Wednesday March 30, 2011 02:16:20 PM,
IANS
|
|
Panaji: The Goa
Church, which runs more than 100 educational institutions in the
state, has backed English as a medium of instruction while
supporters of regional languages plan to stage a mammoth rally
against it.
The Archdiocesan Board of Education (ABE), in an official statement
issued here Wednesday, said English should also be permitted as the
medium of instruction besides Konkani, Marathi or a regional
language in aided primary schools.
"The actual demand of parents, specifically with regard to aided
primary schools, is that English should also be permitted as the
medium of instruction, besides Konkani, Marathi/regional language,
according to the parents' choice; and that Marathi/Konkani should
continue as one of the compulsory subjects throughout elementary
education," the ABE has said.
The church has supported the Forum for Rights of Children's
Education (FORCE), a parents' front backed by a section of Catholic
politicians and the clergy, which wants English as the teaching
medium.
But the Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM), supported by a
section of freedom fighters and rightwing protagonists, has backed
both Konkani and Marathi languages as a medium of instruction.
BBSM has planned a rally against the move April 6.
The debate in Goa comes against the backdrop of the central Right to
Education (RTE) Act, which envisions the child's mother tongue - in
Goa's case Konkani -- as the medium of instruction. The act is
scheduled to be ratified in the state assembly soon.
At present, the Goa government offers aid and grants only to schools
in which Konkani or Marathi is used. Schools with English as the
medium of instruction are not provided government grant-in-aid.
The ABE in its statement said that while English should be the
language of instruction in schools, Konkani should be made a
compulsory language, so that newer generations are in sync with
their culture.
"The Archdiocesan Board of Education has decided, after careful
deliberations, that this demand is in the best interests of the
Konkani language and culture; and, in the specific circumstances of
Goa in 2011, it is also in the best interests of the children,
especially from poorer sections," the pressnote stated.
|
|
Home |
Top of the Page |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Top
Stories |
|
Ahead of
Mohali, India and Pakistan agree to promote peace
A day before their prime ministers meet
on the margins of an explosive India-Pakistan cricket clash, South
Asia's two most bitter rivals Tuesday took small but concrete steps
»
Flashback
to 1996, and that joint India-Pakistan team
230 km
from Lahore, the nearest Pakistan can hope to play from home
|
|
|
|
Most
Read |
|
 Maharashtra minister has no time to meet Unani doctors protesting against
discrimination
Despite intense heat in Mumbai, over 500 Unani doctors from various
districts in Maharashtra sat on a day-long dharna at Azad Maidan near CST
March 29 to
» |
|
Government favours end to subsidised cooking gas to rich: Minister
The
government is seriously thinking of "ending concessional pricing" of
cooking gas to the better off to bring down the mounting bill on oil
subsidy, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas R.P.N.
Singh has said. The minister, who also oversees the corporate
affairs portfolio, said
»
|
|
|
|
News Pick |
|
 Gaddafi
demands coalition stop 'genocide' on Libya
Libyan
leader Muammar Gaddafi called on coalition representatives gathered
for a conference in London Tuesday to stop what he called the
"genocide" on Libya.
»
|
|
Woman
wins contest to attend UAE satellite launch
A woman
from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) pipped 160 other residents to
win a contest held to select a visitor to the country's first
multi-purpose satellite launch.
Shamma Al Dahmani won the contest held by
»
|
|
Abbas
would give up US aid for Palestinian unity, says aide
An aide to the Palestinian president says Mahmoud Abbas is making a
heavy push for reconciliation with Hamas and is willing to give up
hundreds of millions of dollars in aid from Washington if that’s
what it takes to forge
»
|
|
Unusual
kinships: Foreign women in Gandhi's life
Mahatma
Gandhi and foreign women shared a complex relationship. His innate
sensitivity drew several women from the West to the icon of
non-violence who felt at home with them, says Melbourne-based Gandhian
scholar Thomas
»
|
|
Bhopal's
'editor' cobbler on mission to empower
Suresh Nandmehar's tiny shoe repair shop
at a footpath here is crowded every evening. As you approach it, you
can hear words like social empowerment, caste atrocities and
political opportunism. That's because Suresh is no
»
|
|
|
|
Picture of the Day |
|
 |
|
Imam-e-Haram
Dr Abdul Rahman As-Sudais laid the foundation stone of the
Auditorium-cum-cultural centre at Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadees
Complex, Okhla in Delhi on March 26, 2011. Dr As-Sudais is
currently in India on the invitation of Jamiatul Ulema-e-Hind. |
|
|
|
|
Comments
|
Quick links