With every passing census the percentage of religious minorities in Goa has been declining. In the 2001 Census five religious minorities and other religious communities constituted 34.22 % of the population of Goa. The minority population has fallen from 40.09 % in 1960, to 37.58% in 1971, to 35.8 in 1981, to 35.33 in 1991. Over 40 years, percentage of religious minorities comprising Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhist, Jains and other religious communities has fallen by 5.87%.
Besides religious minorities, linguistic minorities, other than the devanagiri Konkani speaking population, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, and subordinate ethnic groups constitute the minority in Goa.
Not only is the numerical strength of minorities going down but their voicelessness and politically powerlessness is increasing, as a certain multilateral elite with deep rooted vested interests and strong political connections is taking over the state and its institutions.
Education is the very foundation of social and political empowerment and the fulcrum for improving opportunities for historically excluded groups. Organisation For Economic Co-Operation and Development states that a higher level of education means higher earnings, better health, and a longer life. Conversely, the long-term social and financial costs of educational failure are high. Those without the skills to participate socially and economically generate higher costs for health, income support, child welfare and social security systems. So a fair and inclusive system that makes the advantages of education available to all is one of the most powerful levers to make society more equitable.
Higher learning in Goa at present, has turned into a dysfunctional entity churning out unemployable post graduates. The present University does not either embody or add to the ethos of Goa with majority faculty from outside Goa, such that Dr Jack de Sequeira who fought for it, would probably regret that he batted for it. There is no substitute for the university itself churning out faculty and students of high calibre. Inviting ‘Visiting Chairs’ is like water over a duck’s back. For this a total deconstruction of the outdated syllabi, outmoded teaching and learning culture has to happen, which can only happen with a new minority university in Goa, while allowing the present university to co-exist.
This minority university with affirmative action policies should focus on distinctive opportunities for educational excellence and structure a programme combining preparation for professional careers with a broad education in the liberal arts and sciences with a large dose of ethnic content which is socially beneficial.
The Church with its firm commitment to humanitarian values, social service and large number of educational institutions should take the lead, without waiting for signature campaigns, aware that one such proposal for a Minority University was earlier torpedoed by vested interests within the Goa University. Similarly, the proposal for a Central University too was sabotaged by the previous vice chancellor Dilip Deobagkar who has been held guilty by the D’Lima Committee in the Post Graduate Diploma in Clinical Research scam.
Majority of the faculty should be Goan and given specialised training in India and abroad, unlike when Goa University was started without preparing faculty, resulting in a flood of in-migration of faculty from outside. Faculty from the Goa University itself has expressed reservations about the inhuman and uncaring actions of the university. The minority university should have a distinctive Goan ethos and focus with firm commitment to research on minorities, tribals, traditional systems of medicine, heritage and foster an internationalism incorporating spiritual and moral values consonant with Christian, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh philosophy, theology and ethic in addition to teaching Hinduism, and Indian and secular values. Theology and Religious Studies, Music, Ancient Greek, Chinese and Asian philosophy should also be included coupled with AYUSH to see a resurgence of civilisational wisdom while simultaneously incorporating subjects such as engineering, IT, medicine with new orientation and methodologies and sheer off the undesirable effects of the typology of western education in India tailored to produce clerks.
Ideally the Minority University should be located in the southern most taluka of Goa, with financial support for minority students of all denominations, and compulsory internships with the local community, industry, and commerce that will enhance the educational and entrepreneurial experience. The local has to gel with the global through vigorous inter university faculty and student exchange. More importantly it does not have to be a negation of the present university and should exist to divest its monopoly and oscitancy.
