TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Stakeholders are closely watching whether Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and his government have the mettle to solve the vexed Medium of Instruction (MoI) issue, when he in all likelihood will unveil draft solutions and seek cabinet approval on the issue as early as Wednesday.
Parrikar had made an assurance of solutions to the MoI issue before January 26, 2014 recently. The chief minister discussed the proposals envisaged in the MoI report with BJP MLAs on Tuesday to take them into confidence before he releases the much awaited MoI report Wednesday. However, St Andre MLA Vishnu Wagh, one of the principal backers of education in regional language was conspicuous by his absence at the meeting.
The government had appointed an advisory committee last year to draw out solutions to the contentious MoI issue. Views had also been sought from the general public and close to 200 responses had been received. Thereafter the report was submitted to the government.
Presently, the Education department is also tight-lipped and has also kept on hold applications for grant of permissions for new schools even though applications have been received for opening of new English medium primary schools in the State.
The government had constituted a 10-member advisory committee on August 8, 2013 to advise the government on the usage of MoI at the primary and pre-primary level. The committee was headed by chief minister and education minister ~ Manohar Parrikar and include educationists Madhav Kamat, Suresh Amonkar, Dr Louis Vernal, P R Nadkarni, Dr Celsa Pinto, Fr Zeferino D’Souza, Chairman of Goa Headmasters Association Fr Dominic Savio Fernandes,
Fr M Ataide, Anil Samant and Mahadev Betkikar. Uday Bhembre, and Savio Lopes ~ on opposite sides of the grants to schools teaching in English were special invitees in the committee that also included the education secretary and director of education.
The MoI issue was a crucial election issue and the perceived dilly dallying and U turns by the then Congress government had cost it badly in the assembly elections.
