PANJIM: Amidst the ongoing ugly fight between the governing BJP and the RSS on the controversial medium of instruction issue, the Congress party on Monday stated that it is the constitutional right of every child to get grants from the government irrespective of their MoI at the primary level.
While reiterating its demand that parents be given right to choose the MoI for their children, Congress said that promotion of the mother tongue or Konkani cannot be at the cost of the future of a child.
“The BJP-led coalition government is not doing English medium primary schools any favour by giving grants. As per the Constitution and Right to Education Act, every child has the right to get grants from the government for their education, irrespective of whether their medium of instruction is in English, Marathi or Konkani,” GPCC President Luizinho Faleiro told media.
“It is the government’s duty to provide grants to students. The fight between RSS and BJP is not serious. In fact RSS is not serious about their fight with BJP on the MoI issue. Congress feels that there is no point in making any issue on the language front, when there is actually no issue at all,” Faleiro said.
He said that the party stand on MoI is very clear; let the parents decide the medium of instruction for their child. “The situation at present is that parents and children find it difficult to cope. If one learns in English at pre-primary level, then in the mother tongue at primary and again in English at high school level, the child’s mind gets disturbed. Hence we need to provide a level playing field,” he said.
“This does not mean that one should forget one’s mother tongue. Even after the Portuguese ruling over Goa for 450 years, Goans never forgot their mother tongue Konkani,” he added.
The BJP-led government and the pro Marathi and Konkani lovers – Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch are currently in a rift over the MoI and grants to English medium primary schools. While the government is firm on its decision to continue grants to 127 Diocesan Schools, BBSM wants grants to be withdrawn failing which the saffron party will face the consequences during the 2017 polls.
