SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2024
The SSC paper furore
In the midst of furore over a question in English paper, it becomes necessary to pay attention to the context. It was a conversation between two individuals and the task for the student was to merely convert it to reported speech. In no way does it endorse the existence or extent of a malpractice. It only expresses the opinion of a non-existent speaker. The teacher need not be penalized for this benign act as while doing it, he/she kept the use of reporting verbs in focus.
The students did not have to reflect and comment on the statement, hence the allegation against the paper setter and authorities concerned is baseless. People need to be more objective and proportional in their allegations over non issues.
Shipra Gracias, Chicalim
Stop spitting menace in Margao
With reference to the lead edit on Sunday Herald, dated May 24, 2020, titled - Public Spitting and Smoking, can it be stopped permanently?, the lead edit is indept, factual and backed with real time figures of fines and circumstances, especially during lockdown times in India. However, as we in Goa and particularly in Margao understand, there has to be a strict enforcement with the selling points of banned tobacco and bye products that are consumed by humans that result in rampant spitting, mostly in public spaces.
Visit the South Goa Planning and Developmental Authority (SGPDA) bldg in Margao, the Margao Municipal Bldg and other Govt buildings and one finds red coloured graffiti, or pan sprayed through spitting. Even migrants waiting to board the trains were seen with red mouths and teeth. Now in a banned era from where does the supply happen?
COVID-19 is a deadly virus and spittle can be the bane of not just Goa but the entire India as a major route to spread the virus further especially during the oncoming monsoons. Can we in Margao and other parts of Goa, learn from the Goa Police, the Panjim's City Mayor and the Sunday Herald article so as to enforce more efficiently the Goa Prohibition of Smoking and Spitting Act, 1997 in Margao, where rampant migration of migrants and the migrant shanties along the city are the prime responsible of the paan and spittle menace that can lead to the further spread of COVID-19 virus in Margao and Goa.
Cedric da Costa, Margao
SSC exam blunders
After all the uncertainty and anxiety the SSC exams are underway and the first question paper which is English has revealed many blunders by the Goa Board of Education. The Education Minister must take the responsibility of the errors and not pass the buck as it is he who was adamant on holding the exams in a hurried and haphazard manner. Students should not suffer because of the mistakes of the Education Minister and the Goa Board and they must be awarded the marks for the wrong questions.
Regarding to the issue of the Portuguese passport, there is no issue at all in this matter as some BJP MLAs have pointed out. It is true that many Goans have Portuguese passports and go abroad as it is difficult to get good jobs in Goa and it is not a secret that there is corruption. Those who are demanding that the teacher must be punished should also demand strict punishment for the Education Minister, so that he gives a good example to all his staff. The teacher in question must be rewarded for bringing out the truth so that the young students will not be fooled by the politicians.
Matias Lobo, Tivim
Why can’t we learn?
Why can’t we learn from past mistakes? India is now touching 6000 positive cases per day when initially we had below hundred! Why? Because India was testing less numbers per day. Now, limited hospital beds and ventilators will be stretched! Do they seriously believe COVID- 19 favours the rich?
Goa Government now says all people coming to Goa by air have 3 options:
Pay Rs 2000 for test, self-isolate till result. Risk: Major: how safe is this self-isolated place? How many ventilators and beds the Govt. has to accommodate this risk? Mitigate this risk by Govt. designated Quarantine till results are known.
Produce COVID-19 free test in previous 24 hours and go home. Risk: Major: they could have contracted the same after the test, then infect all those at home, market etc. They can even get it in the plane! How many ventilators and beds the Government has? Mitigate this risk by testing at the airport, quarantine at Government premises till tests are known.
Opt for strict home quarantine: Risk: minor. Home quarantine has been porous and monitoring lax. Those coming on holidays will break the quarantine. Mitigate this with Government designated quarantine place.
International passengers will be compulsorily tested: what is the difference in these 2 cases? Simple: domestic passengers will come as tourists while foreigners will not. Major risks are being taken to favour the hotel industry!
R Fernandes, Margao
Portuguese passport and job opportunities
Kudos to the teacher who framed an interlocking question between two friends Rayson to Kedan on future plans and the repartee by Kedan that he has applied for a Portuguese passport, is the reflection of the current job status in Goa. The hue and cry raised by the ruling BJP giving it a communal colour to the narrative speaks volumes of their nationalist fervour.
The teacher needs to be applauded for the "out-of-the box" thinking in framing such a relevant question keeping in mind the exodus of Goans to European countries for employment by using the springboard of the Portuguese passport. The job scenario is in dire straits with the economy reeling under recession and the ongoing COVID-19 induced lockdown has made matters worse. With the opening up of air, road and rail corridors and evacuation of stranded fellow Goans, there will be a huge influx of people seeking employment due to displacement.
With no income, jobs and revival of businesses in the near future, the employment scenario in the State will be very grim for the present crop of students answering the exams and hence instead of initiating action against the framer of the question in this present doom and gloom scenario, better sense needs to be prevailed in addressing the needs of the younger generation instead of politicizing the issue for gaining brownie points.
Everette Assis Telles, Margao
Invaluable migrants on both sides of the States
I look at the way the process of reaching the migrants to their respective home destinations is handled, it looks like these migrants are in different countries not in India, where visa or emigration check or clearance is required. As the famous saying says "only if you walk in another person's shoes you will not know how the shoe bite hurts and exactly how much it hurts."
In any crisis we all believe in the publication and follow the laws, so did the migrants standing in the heat, received help from strangers in filling the forms with one vision of reaching home with the fear of pandemic striking them, where they made their living - rather reach their sweet home or be the family. One should not forget that on their earning and spending on both the sides, GST was earned by both States, but who remembers that, it was source of income to run the state or Central.
Now these migrants are in limbo on both ends, not having a clue the process of departure and in some cases, rather walk 1000s of kilometers losing faith in both states, but the irony is, most forgot that these migrants served the community, PWD or the bureaucracy, who can see them in misfortune due to lack of coordination. I end my note with another saying.. "if you are unable to help someone, please don't trouble them"
Gaston Dias, Sarzora
