There are two distinct camps: a) Pro-Konkani/Marathi: b) Pro-English
a) Pro-Konkani/Marathi camp fights for the child’s mother-tongue to be the MoI in the primary education, as it is advocated all over the world and prescribed by RTE in India. Konkani is the mother tongue of virtually all the Goan children. There might be a variant of this Tongue – Mother’s Sister Tongue’ or ‘Mauxi Bhas’ – Marathi. The Portuguese, towards the end of 17th century, attempted a Linguistic and Cultural genocide, as Cunha Rivara, himself a Portuguese, would call it. In 1684, they dealt a murderous blow on Konkani. They tried to wean away mainly a particular community from the mother-tongue, though the spoken Konkani was overlooked. Those who wanted to remain firmly rooted in their soil, language, culture, etc., had no other option than the Marathi. The teachers had to be imported from outside Goa. The classes ran just in thatched huts and dens and thrived only on local contributions. The hardships endured, for the sake of the language and culture, possibly moved even the hearts of the Portuguese themselves, to have a soft corner for Marathi. In the first quarter of 20th century, the Government Primary Schools of Marathi started dotting Goa. Konkani however was ignored altogether. Portuguese language was projected as the mother-tongue of Goans. This fact explains the existence of Government Primary Schools of Portuguese and Marathi only, at the time of the Liberation. But the English Primary Schools never got grants! The mother tongue helps the tender minds to think creatively and express their thoughts with the inherited wealth of vocabulary. As the love of God has to be implanted in children right from their tender age, so the love for and the sense of belongingness to the mother land and the nation are to be inculcated through the mother tongue at an early age. Therefore the State has a bounden duty to impart primary education through Konkani/Marathi medium in Goa.
b) Pro English camp: Their main arguments boil down to : 1) Parents’ freedom to choose the medium; 2) English at primary level, equips the children better to cope up with the higher studies; 2) English in this global society is important for survival itself. 4) The RTE prescribes mother tongue ‘as far as practicable’. These points being very clear need no further elaboration.
1) By giving grants only to schools with Konkani/Marathi medium, the government does not infringe at all the rights of the parents. The government imposes a particular medium only on the schools that seek grants. 2) There have been in Goa and abroad eminent executives, literati, scientists, doctors, engineers, lawyers, judges, etc., who had their primary education in Marathi. 3) Nobody denies the importance of English in the modern world. The education program can be suitably chalked out to make the students sufficiently familiar with English. 4) RTE’s ‘as far as practicable’ has been ‘practicable’ in all the states in India (barring perhaps Nagaland/Mizoram). Is it not ‘practicable’ only in Goa?