PANJIM: Responding to Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch’s (BBSM) repeated warning to stop grants to English medium primary schools, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar quoted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘mantra’ to justify government’s decision to continue grants to English medium schools.
“This government runs on Modi mantra ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’. We want that everyone should be part of development so that we can have Acche Din in future. When we take this mantra it is not fair to take away something which is already given. It might have been given by former government but we can’t get it away from them,” he said responding to a media question at a briefing on the eve of Goa Statehood Day on Sunday.
Parsekar, who is also the education minister, commented that his government has always supported primary education in mother tongue. “In the last four years (of the BJP-led coalition), the number of schools (in Konkani medium) have increased to 95. We are making every effort to elevate their standard by giving good infrastructure besides every requirement needed,” he added.
The BBSM leaders, who have been arguing that government backstabbed them over 2012 poll promise on the issue, have given June as deadline to stop giving grants to English medium schools. The BBSM’s claim of supporting BJP to win the elections has often been refuted by the saffron party.
