Team Herald
PANJIM: Over a year and five extensions later, the 17-member committee to advise the government on the Medium of Instruction (MoI) said they have decided to skip the remaining two consultative meetings and that they have begun generating 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. We had another two consultative meetings to be conducted in North and South Goa along with the stakeholders, but the panel has decided to skip these meetings and go ahead with generating the report.”
He added, “In the 12 meetings conducted, the panel has already received suggestions from stakeholders and some have sent us replies in writing.”
The committee, constituted in July 2016, had been given 120 days to submit its report, and had recently 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 had said, “These two meetings could not be held due to the Assembly and Panchayat elections and then the by-polls.”
When the panel was formed in July 2016, 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 2016, but the committee sought an extension of 90 days, which was granted. The committee had subsequently sought more extensions.
