Team Herald
PANJIM: With less than 45 days left for the commencement of new Academic Year 2019-20, the BJP-led State government is yet to take a call on the expert panel report on the Medium of Instruction (MoI) at the elementary education level.
While the panel claims that their terms of reference was not MoI, it is well known fact that educationist Bhaskar Nayak committee was constituted in 2016 to recommend the medium of education at primary level.
The 17-member expert panel submitted its recommendation on MoI to the State government on January 25, after almost two and half years of its constitution. The report was submitted to Secretary Education Neela Mohanan, IAS. A 16-page report was placed before government.
Three months since its submission, the government is yet to announce whether the report is accepted or not. Former chief minister (late) Manohar Parrikar’s illness followed by model code of conduct have kept the issue on the backburner.
While Mohanan remained unavailable for the comments, sources revealed that the report continues to be with the Secretary, who was not in position to place it before Parrikar due to his illness. Parrikar was holding education portfolio.
“The new Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant was sworn in when the model code of conduct was in force. Everyone was busy with the election process. The report may be placed before the chief minister only after the code is lifted,” sources said.
Sources informed that the report focuses on the steps need to be taken to improve the quality of education at primary school level and points out lacunas in the existing education system.
When contacted, Nayak said that MoI was not part of the terms of reference of the committee and that the committee has only given suggestion to improve quality of education at the primary school level. “We have done our job and now it is upto the government,” he said.
The State Government through a cabinet decision in 2014 continued grants to all 137 English medium primary schools that saw massive protest from activists opposed to use of English as medium of instruction at the primary level.
This had forced government to constitute a committee, just ahead of 2017 Assembly election. The committee was constituted to recommend to the government what is the best medium of instruction at the primary level. The terms of reference of the panel was to study the entire system of grants to the aided primary schools and recommend steps for improving the standard of education.
