Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has made it clear that his decision to grant financial support to parochial schools where the medium of instruction is English, is an administrative and not an educational solution. Devising the curriculum is the job of educators, not of the Chief Minister.
The people who are in favour of the native language have time and again made reference to the importance of the universal pedagogical principle of educating children in their native language. It is, no doubt, a valid language principle but it applies to children in all schools in Goa.
We, of course, have a serious problem because in private primary schools, children are allowed to be educated not in their native languages of Konkani or Marathi, but in English! This, no doubt, is an educational problem. All schools will have to follow the same language policy; whether they get financial aid or not, is a separate issue.
The supporters of the universal pedagogical principle of educating children in their mother tongue to be consistent with their educational philosophy, will have to demand that the government shut down of all English medium primary schools. So far no one has uttered a single word!
No educational committee anywhere in the world will have two different opinions on this point, as it is illogical and contradictory to have two opposite educational principles, one for private schools and another for public schools. Another word for this is discrimination. The implementation of the language policy of the government will have to be the same for all schools, government or not.
As the government does not want to politicalize the language issue - and a wise decision too - the only other choice available to the government would be to shut down all private primary schools where English is used as the medium of instruction so the universal pedagogical principle is consistent for all schools. Or allow for multi-lingual primary education. Is there another choice?
