Team Herald
PORVORIM: Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday categorically stated there will be no change in the grant-in-aid policy of the government and ruled out granting new permissions to English medium primary schools.
He said preference is being given to schools with Marathi and Konkani as the medium of instruction.
“The grant in aid policy is frozen. There will be no change,” Parrikar said. “Last year there were 19,294 students in government schools and this year the number has increased by 2000 taking the total to 21,221. Today in English medium schools around 56,000 students study whereas in the Konkani and Marathi medium schools there 35,000 students,” Parrikar said.
He added, “Therefore no new permissions shall be given to English medium schools whereas priority is to be given to Konkani and Marathi schools.”
Parrikar also announced that land to set up an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Goa will be identified within the next three months and construction work will commence in a year.
Canacona MLA Isidore Fernandes tried to justify people’s objection to the IIT stating that villagers were not taken into confidence by those who sold the land.
“We are not against the IIT, we just did not like the process in which it was done. We people want an IIT in Canacona but not on that land and I say that new land be identified for the purpose,” Fernandes said.
His comments sparked a ruckus in the House with ruling coalition MLAs urging the government to study the project at Sanguem-Curchorem border to which the Chief Minister said that the Deputy Collector South has been asked to demarcate the land for the purpose.
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CM promises Edu Dev Fund to meet school infrastructure needs
With the aim of providing finance for schemes and basic infrastructure, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday announced that an Educational Development Fund will be formed.
“An Educational Development Fund will be formed under my chairmanship with an amount to the tune of Rs 600 crore for the next five years which would be non-lapsable. Rs 100-150 crore would be released per year for educational institutes across Goa for infrastructure finance and schemes,” Parrikar said.
He added the government is spending Rs 2,176 crore on education which is almost 13.13 per cent of the State budget. “The State government has given thrust to the education sector and in the next five years, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on education will cross 5 per cent which is currently 3.09 per cent,” he said.
The Chief Minister also warned educational institutes that their grant-in-aid will be stopped if they extort money from students under various pretexts. “I have received several complaints about various educational institutes who force students to buy uniform from a particular shop or fine them if they don’t attend the annual picnic. We will not tolerate such activity,” he said. Responding to questions on deteriorating quality of food provided under midday meal scheme, Parrikar appealed to parents to keep a check on it.
“By next year the PTAs will have to classify the food under A, B or C grade. Those food providers who get C grade will lose their contract, while with A or A plus will get the bonus,” he said.
The Chief Minister also assured the curriculum of value education is ready and it will be introduced in the primary level after Diwali.
“As per the report, we have found that 14 percent of school children have been facing various problems which include sexual abuse and due to this children are found mentally disturbed in order to address this issue we will be introducing value education to primary level,” Parrikar said.
