Let us look back at the issue of Medium of Instruction (MoI) in 2012 when BJP swept the polls, defeated the Congress Party and formed the government under the leadership of then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. The Congress government under Digambar Kamat had already given grants to Archdiocesan Board of Education’s (ABE) primary schools with English as the medium of instruction. Bharatiya Bhaxa Surokxa Manch (BBSM) had strongly opposed the Congress government on this issue and had created havoc by boycotting and disrupting the government functions. They even filed a Writ Petition in the Goa Bench of Bombay High Court.
When Parrikar’s government was formed, BBSM had no doubt that Parrikar government would cancel the grants given to ABE schools. But it did not happen that way.
The Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court disposed of the petition on Medium of Instruction (MoI) on account of the affidavit filed by the Parrikar government stating that the government would reconsider and solve the issue of giving grants and Medium of Instruction by taking into confidence all the stake holders. In reality, I feel, there was no solution that could satisfy both parties.
Manohar Parrikar as Chief Minister and Education Minister did not propose any new solution but used his political acumen to tame the leadership of BBSM and continued grants to ABE primary schools in English medium. He followed the policy of his predecessor Digambar Kamat. The most surprising aspect of this episode was the exposure of double-standard of BBSM. They did not protest against Parrikar’s decision of continuing grants to ABE’s English medium primary schools as they did during Congress regime.
My concern is the fact that the parents of today demand primary education in English medium for the betterment of their children. Well to do and financially sound parents send their children to English medium private unaided primary schools by paying hefty fees. Poor parents cannot afford it. Because the weaker section of the society cannot afford to pay exorbitant fees to private schools is it justified to deny them the right to have the choice of medium of instruction? I feel it is unjust and a ploy to suffocate the development of the weaker section of the society. Therefore it becomes the sacred responsibility of the elected government to safeguard the interests of the poor section of the society.
Private unaided primary schools shot into prominence and became most sought after schools by the people when in 1991, most of the English medium schools run by the ABE opted for providing primary education in Konkani medium. If I am not mistaken, hardly 10 primary schools belonging to private managements did not opt for Konkani medium at that time. Although the then Government had promised ABE that it would not permit any new English medium primary schools in the state of Goa, the importance of schooling in English medium vis-à-vis the pressure from influential people like politicians, businessmen, etc, the Government was compelled to grant permissions to start new private primary schools in English medium. Today, almost after 25 years, there are over 160-odd government-recognized private unaided primary schools in the state of Goa. The fact is that year after year not only the number of such schools has increased but the number students in these schools too have gone up impressively in spite of paying hefty fees. It becomes very difficult to get admissions in such schools and the syndrome of ‘donations’ plays a very important role in such schools. Poor parents find it extremely difficult to even dream of sending their children to these schools. Even today there are many applications pending with the Education Department asking permission to open private primary school in English medium. What does this confirm? It simply proves that there is tremendous demand for English medium primary education in the state of Goa.
Conversely the number of students in primary schools in regional language medium i.e. Konkani or Marathi dwindles year after year. Marathi and Konkani medium schools find difficulty in getting students and hence there is negligible number of students in such schools. These rapid changes are taking place because all parents, irrespective of caste, creed or religion, aspire to provide primary education for their children in English. The Government, therefore, must realize the significance of English language in facing the challenges of the 21st century and accordingly formulate a policy of primary education in Goa.
The recent agitation of FORCE culminated in giving written assurance by 11 MLAs and Ministers that the MoI issue will be placed in the Assembly in its December session. As for me, this assurance has no importance. They have assured to table the MoI issue in the house and they will use all their might to do so. But have they assured to get the MoI bill passed in the assembly? No! Hence that assurance has no meaning at all.
But the recent statistics of students learning primary education in English in ABE schools has shocked the BBSM authorities. It is a fact that there are more Hindu students than Christian students opting for English primary education in ABE schools. If one takes into consideration all private run schools providing English education, one would be surprised to note that these schools have almost 70% students from majority community and just 30% students from minority community.
Therefore the MoI issue today does not restrict to minority community alone. It is the issue of all Goans. Hence the elected government cannot afford to ignore the wishes of the people in a democracy like ours.
(Tomazinho Cardozo is a former Speaker of Goa Legislative Assembly)
