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Goa's medium of instruction issue takes
communal turn
Tuesday May 24, 2011 09:49:11 PM,
IANS
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Panaji: Goa's already
vexed medium of instruction issue has now taken a communal turn.
A spokesperson for the Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM),
which is backing regional languages as the sole medium of
instruction, has said that elected legislators in Goa were divided
on the issue along religious lines.
Christian legislators have supported English, while Hindu MLAs
backed regional languages like Konkani or Marathi as the the
medium of instruction in schools, irrespective of their party
affiliations, convenor of the BBSM and former chief minister
Shashikala Kakodkar said Tuesday.
"Only a few minority leaders from Salcete (a Christian dominated
sub-district in south Goa) are dictating terms to Chief Minister
Digambar Kamat, forcing him to choose English as the medium of
instruction," Kakodkar said.
"It seems like the medium of instruction issue is dividing the
legislators on religious lines," Kakodkar added.
There are 27 Hindu and and 13 Christian lawmakers in the 40-member
Goa legislative assembly.
The issue comes against the backdrop of the 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 as the teaching
medium.
The Forum for Rights of Children's Education (FORCE), a parents'
front backed by a large section of Catholic politicians and the
clergy, has sought English as the medium of instruction, while the
Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM), supported by a section of
freedom fighters, politicians and Hindu rightwing organisations,
has backed both Konkani and Marathi languages as a medium of
instruction.
A delegation of the Goa government on Tuesday met Minister for
Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal in a bid to resolve the
issue.
Congress general secretary in charge of Goa Jagmeet Singh Brar has
said that the ball was in the court of the Goa government on the
contentious issue.
"The consultations in Delhi are over. But the final decision has
to be taken by the state government," Brar told reporters Tuesday.
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