Need homogeneity in schools
The Goa Board has prescribed NCERT textbooks for different subjects for all standards. At the end of each chapter of a subject there are few questions for which the students write the answers in their notebooks. It is noticed that in most schools the questions at the end of the chapter are solved, at some schools, extra questions are given by the subject teacher, some dedicated teachers give added questions from guides published by private players, in some schools students from different divisions of the same standards have different teachers for the same subject with some providing either short or long answers to the same set of questions!
The students are confused since question papers of the final exams are common for all the divisions of a particular standard in any school. For e.g., if a geography teacher of Standard 9, Section A corrects the paper of 9th B, then he/she may find the answers at variance to what was taught by him/her and students lose marks for no fault of theirs.
Perhaps these are some causes as to why many students fare poorly in exams. The same reasons hold good for those appearing in the Board exams of Standard 10 and 12. Also, when students appear for competitive exams or quizzes, some may know the answers, while others may not.
To avoid intra- and inter-school discrepancies, provide a level playing field to the students and reduce the teachers’ workload; official guides with standard questions, answers and keywords could be printed for all subjects. These could be prepared by teachers assigned by the education department and copies be given to all the teachers. This proposal could lead to a uniformity in teaching, fairness in allotting marks and students would benefit in other ways. Hope the Honourable CM, who also handles the Education portfolio, would favourably consider the suggestion and implement the same in the next academic year in Goa’s schools.
On India, the issues of different questions and answers provided by thousands of teachers could be a common occurrence since NCERT books are widely used. Hence, guides may be produced under the auspices of the Union Ministry of Education and some State-specific questions may be added in concerned subjects (e.g., geography, history).
Sridhar D’Iyer, Caranzalem
A question of livelihood
This has reference to the report ‘Sanguem farmers vow to fight unto death’ (Herald 21 July 2022). That’s a great show of determination on the part of the farmers at Sanguem, vowing to ‘fight unto death’ to keep the IIT Project out of their agricultural land. There is bound to be a certain amount of opposition to such projects, just as the railways quadrupling project or the coastal road in Mumbai for instance. However, all such protests at not without substance. They have genuine issues, a question of livelihood for one. Without wading into controversy, the authorities must take a sympathetic view of the situation. They need to take into consideration several factors into account such as livelihood, environmental impact, etc., while planning such projects. Everybody is in favour of development. Goa also needs to develop. But at the end of the day, it should not be at the cost of the people’s very existence. Let’s look at a ‘win-win’ situation. The authorities & the citizens need to sit across the table and plan things out amicably in the interests of all and they are capable of doing that!
Melville X D’Souza, Mumbai
Express gratitude towards your parents
Parent’s Day is celebrated on the fourth Sunday in July. The day is celebrated to honour both the parents — i.e. the father and the mother. This year, Parent’s Day will be celebrated on July 24.
Parent’s Day is dedicated to parents all over the world and is an occasion to show appreciation for the commitment to strengthen the family bond and to create an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding. It is the parents’ who frame their child’s/children’s personality according to their inherit strengths, talents and bequeath to them moral values and the spirit of living life wholly. Parent’s Day acknowledges the overpowering presence of parents in the lives of children. Parents are the most important people in our lives. They are the gift of God on earth. Nobody can take their place in life. They bring us into this beautiful world, care for us with love and care and provide us with education so that we may grow up into responsible and level headed human beings. If you feel grateful for having the best parents on earth and want to let them know your heartfelt feelings, then Parent’s Day is the perfect time for you to convey your emotions. Writing a poem is a fantastic way to express your feelings to them.
Parents are the strength and support system of their children. They carry with them so many responsibilities, yet they never show it. We must be thankful to have parents in our lives as not everyone is lucky to have them.
Jubel D’Cruz, Mumbai
Public are entitled to efficient services
Over the last few years, the head count of Goa’s bureaucracy has bloated way beyond the norm. With jobs sold and many appointed by political favouritism, it now reflects the poor level of service the public is getting on account of people without merit getting jobs.
With staff merrily coming late to work and cheerfully leaving early besides taking extended lunch breaks it only ensures that the functioning of public institutions is not as it should be.
It is high time the government finds means and ways to ensure that all public offices including the Courts function at optimum levels. Changing the office timings may be a way ahead. Like in the Gulf, timings from 8am to 2pm could be an idea. This would motivate the staff to perform and enable them to reach home for lunch.
Despite crores of rupees having been spent to step up e-governance, the end result is still a far cry from decent functionality. There is a need for some radical administrative reforms so that needless extra paper work is done away with. With the advancement of modern technology, it should be possible to ensure that the public does not have to line up at government offices for anything and everything.
Officials must be more efficient by taking responsibility for their duties with a greater sense of urgency and not push people from pillar to post or send them on a wild goose chase in government offices.
Unless productivity and efficiency improve considerably and urgently it will continue to be a drain on the Exchequer and a continued source of frustration and stress for people who rightly expect a lot better.
Aires Rodrigues, Ribandar
Afforestation and CAMPA
Goa has lost forest cover due to extensive mining and rampant hill cutting, further will lose more on the 3 linear projects specially Tanmar, an alarming scenario for Global warming. The Supreme Court
mandated the Government to make what is called the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA),which is a pan India authority comprising 32 states and has collected about 50,000 crores as funds from industries since 2016. Goa has been allocated about 32 crores. Much of it not utilised, reason cited is, land cannot be identified for afforestation, the least we could do, is cover the mining pits and plant trees,
There is ample of land even a common man will be able to identify, we only need the will..The irony of the situation is we are going to plant tress in Madhya Pradesh instead of Goa.It is something like this :- ’ I fracture my right foot with my axe but I bandage my left foot’.There is a Konkani saying ‘Itching in one place but scratching in another place.
Agnelo Furtado, Chinchinim
