It is true that Goa needs Konkani. Without Konkani, Goa is nothing. But, studying in the primary section in Konkani in the Devnagiri script is as good as studying in Marathi, which negates our Goan culture and seperate identity which was already decided in a referundum many years ago. Usage of Marathi has been designated only for Official purposes, not for education.
There is no question of Marathi being imposed for educational purposes in English medium schools. During Portuguese rule, all education was in Portugese, and there were no problems for Goans. All the Dempos, Salgaonkars and many more Goans studied in Portuguese. One bank officer on leave application wrote ‘My eyes is coming’ for conjunctivitis, and on another ocassion he wrote, ‘My head is burning’ for headache and fever, both literal translations of Marathi. He became the laughing stock of the bank. Marathi or Devnagiri Konkani, there is no substitute for English.
There must be a choice for students to pursue studies in either Konkani or in English, with Portuguese as a foreign language. School children who are finding it difficult studying in Konkani in the Devnagiri script, must be allowed to study in Roman script. It is only North Goa that has welcomed the Devnagiri Konkani script. Not only Goans question the wisdom of our politicians who accepted Konkani in the Devanagiri script in the first place, but they also feel they have been trapped because of our foolish politicians.
We hope that in the new Goa Assembly there would be acceptance of Konkani in Roman script, as well as English, which will allay fears of not being able to compete with English medium students at the time of employment. We have already had a referundum and have voted out unitedly against merger with Maharashtra. Hence, the State government must accept a MOI that suits all Goans, rather than spitefully sticking to some vernacular MOI because it suits some Marathi speaking people in North Goa.
