JULIAN D’ CRUZ
PANJIM: If one was to prepare a report card of the State Education Ministry’s performance in 2013, it would get an ATKT given that quite a few issues still remain unresolved despite loud promises made by the government.
The biggest test that chief minister Manohar Parrikar who holds the education portfolio is facing is the medium of instruction issue which has been hanging fire for over a year since he came to power. The advisory committee was only appointed this year to resolve the issue and has now submitted its report after concluding its deliberations in October this year.
The chief minister recently said that he would announce a solution to the MoI imbroglio by January 26 – a way forward to the English v/s Konkani-Marathi tangle almost two years after he rode to power on the back of MoI issue among others, including corruption.
As of now status quo has been maintained on the issue of grants to schools imparting education in English taken by the previous government. But activists from both camps (English and vernacular) are livid and have insisted that the government should take a policy decision.
The government is likely to face the real test in 2014 when people will insist on solution to these issues – such as extended school timings, mid-day meals, MoI issue, grants to pre-primary schools teaching in Konkani and Marathi will dominate the New Year, as the state wakes up after festivities, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
But both FORCE and BBSM camps contend that declaration of Lok Sabha polls and imposition of the election code at any time could stump a resolve on the MoI issue for more than six months. A most likely solution, many say!
Earlier, this year, the new academic year began with the education department unveiling plans to increase number of school working days and instructional hours by increasing school timings by 30 minutes. The decision came weeks after schools re-opened and disrupted academic timetables virtually creating unrest within the parent and teaching communities. Finding itself losing ground on the issue, the government offered solutions for one year by granting concessions to primary and secondary schools exempting them from implementing the same and offering one more solution of introducing full-day schooling. The chief minister had to face angry parents in the two districts of the State where both platforms flatly rejected the proposal for extended schools timing.
The closure of government institutions due to lack of students, renting of vacant buildings, appointment of 325 English teachers for its primary schools, distribution of computer tablets for schools students were some of the other issues reported in 2013. New guidelines had also been drafted for ensuring that dubious educational institutions do not set up shop in Goa. These are likely to be notified in 2014 though.
The Education Ministry also had an uphill task over contamination of the Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS) after students from four different schools fell ill after consuming the meals served to them. However, investigations revealed that there was only one case of food poisoning while the other three were not of food contamination according to the government.
There was much hue and cry nonetheless as these incidents were reported soon after the MDMS in Bihar turned fatal and resulted in the death of several students.
Though there were just fire fighting measures adopted, the new revamped scheme due in 2013 is only likely to be dished out next year. The education ministry saw much opposition from various institutions to the proposal that schools and PTAs should take on responsibility of monitoring the mid-day meals and church-run schools officially objected to this move.
The ABE also took on the government over the issue of grants to pre-primary schools teaching Konkani and Marathi claiming that most of its schools having pre-primaries imparting education in English and decried possible discrimination against its institutions.
On the issue of counselors too the ABE objected to government-appointed counsellors and computer teachers. The issue finally hit the headline in 2013 with the education department calling ABE pampered forcing the latter to guard itself on virtually every issue pertaining to education this year.
Even as a new beginning was made at the Goa Board with the appointment of eminent educationist J R Rebello as its Chairman, as part of reforming and revamping secondary and higher secondary education, the Board proposed several reforms and changes which includes CCE for classes IX and X, revamping vocational education, a new sports marking system, a unique identity number for tracking performance of students and last but not the least conduct of Goa Board exams
for X and XII jointly in March 2014.
The state has to get its act together and purse improvement in both the quality and delivery of education, by focusing on it as the core of human development, and not a mere sideshow among other
developmental or political concerns.
