PANJIM: Over a year and five extensions later, the 17-member committee to advise the government on the Medium of Instruction (MoI) will now decide whether there is need to conduct the remaining two consultative meetings before going ahead with the compiling the report.
Speaking to Herald, committee member Nagaraj Honnekeri said, “We will submit the final report before the deadline of the fifth extension is over. The first 12 meetings were to be conducted at the taluka level, and have been completed. Now we have another two consultative meetings to be conducted in North and South Goa along with the stakeholders, but the panel has decided to give a second thought to whether there is a need to hold these two meetings.”
He added, “In the 12 meetings conducted, the panel has already received suggestions from stakeholders and some have sent us replies in writing. Looking at this the panel will now decide if there is a need to conduct the remaining two consultative meetings or to directly write the final report.”
The committee, constituted in July 2016, had been given 120 days to submit its report, and has now sought a fifth extension to its term to hold the two consultative meetings in North and South Goa and compile and submit the report.
Honnekeri said, “These two meetings could not be held due to the Assembly Elections, Panchayat elections and then the by-polls.”
When the panel was formed in July last year, it had been asked to submit its report on what the medium of instruction should be at the primary level in Goa. The deadline for the report was set for the first week of November last. In November, the committee sought an extension of 90 days, which was granted and the report was to be submitted on February 2.
