Medium and the messenger
TOMAZINHO CARDOZO
Primary education in Goa is has gone through a period of turbulence over the three years. Parents of students studying in Konkani in the Devnagari script at the primary level demanded that they be given the opportunity to allow their children to study in the English medium. An agitation to this effect under the banner of ‘Forum for Rights of Children’s Education’ (FORCE) was launched and the then Congress government under Chief Minister Digamber Kamat bowed to the wishes of the people and offered them the choice of choosing the language for the medium of instruction at the primary level. Almost all schools belonging to the Archdiocesan Board of Education started imparting primary education in English.
The anti-English and pro-Marathi Konkani lobby in Goa came together to fight against primary education in the English medium. This lobby which had fought bitterly against each other during the language agitation in 1987, now shared the same platform to oppose primary education in English. The Bhembres, the Naiks, the Carmelis and other leaders of the Konkani brigade aligned with Kakodkars, Naiks and Angles, the then leaders of the Marathi language to establish the Bharatya Bhaxa Surokkxa Manch (BBSM).
As the then Chief Minister Digamber Kamat maintained his government decision to provide grants to primary schools in the English medium, there was an agitation launched by BBSM. They went to the extent of boycotting not only government functions, but also the celebrations on June 18 marking the solemn occasion of Revolution Day.
With the Congress government adamant on its decision, the anti-English lobby filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court Goa branch. The present Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar was the Opposition leader at the time and had supported the BBSM agitation wholeheartedly.
Goa then faced general elections in 2012 and the Congress party was defeated. The BJP achieved a tremendous victory and Manohar Parrikar became the Chief Minister of Goa.The leaders of BBSM were naturally confident that he would deny grants to primary schools in the English medium. But to everyone’s surprise, Mr. Parrikar continued with the grants to all schools of the Archdiocesan Board imparting primary education in English.
The ferocious voice of the anti-English lobby mellowed down due its tactful taming by Manohar Parrikar who also formulated schemes and assured huge financial benefits to those willing to impart primary education in Konkani and Marathi. It appeared that the uncertainty over the MoI issue was over. Not so! The Parrikar government recently constituted an 11 member Advisory Committee to advise the government to solve this sticky issue.
This ‘Advisory Committee’ constituted with Parrikar himself as the chairman consists of the following: Professor Madhav Kamat, Suresh Amonkar, Dr. Louis Varnal, PR. Nattkarni, Dr. Celsa Pinto, Fr. Zeferino D’Souza, Fr. Domnic Savio, Fr. M. Ataide, Anil Sawant and Madhav Bhetkikar. There are two invitees to the committee–Uday Bhemre on behalf of BBSM and Savio Lopes representing FORCE. The Education Secretary and Director of Education are also members.
Analyzing the constitution of this committee, one finds that out of the 11 members, 6 are against English and 3 for English as the medium of instruction while the opinion of one member is not known to me. The 11th member, Parrikar himself, is on record that his view on primary education is that it should be in one’s mother tongue. The special invitee Uday Bhembre will put up a fight against English while Savio Lopes of FORCE will argue in favour of English.
Given this situation, one wonders why Manohar Parrikar allowed the ABE schools to continue with English medium primary education if he had in mind the constitution of a committee heavily weighed against English medium education.
If this committee is left to itself to take a decision, I am pretty sure that it will go against the interests of English. What kind of magic wand Mr. Parrikar will use to sustain his decision of allowing the ABE schools in the English medium, only time will tell.
