TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Amidst increasing criticism, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday defended his government’s policy on the Medium of Instruction (MoI) claiming that it would encourage education in Konkani and Marathi, which in turn would help in preserving these languages.
While labelling primary education in English as ‘fashion’ among the elites, Parrikar said, “25 per cent of students who were studying only in English would be now be forced to take Konkani or Marathi in the wake of this policy. Since these languages have been made compulsory till class X as second subject in the curriculum, unaided schools would be bound to teach Marathi or Konkani at primary level,” Parrikar, who is the Education Minister, said, defending the MoI policy which has come under fire from regional languages supporters.
Parrikar reiterated that around 22,000 primary students from the unaided schools, studying in English, would be introduced to local languages as the policy has laid stress on having bilingual books for all subjects.
The chief minister was speaking after inaugurating the one day first Official Language Convention organized by the Department of Official Language to discuss and suggest ways and means for proper implementation of Official Language, in Panjim.
Meanwhile, the BJP led –government is now facing flak for continuing grants to English medium schools from its supporters too. A group named Get Well Soon and Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM) which had launched campaign against the previous government had termed Parrikar government’s policy as a carbon copy of his predecessor’s.
Further stressing on government’s aim to encourage local languages, the chief minister stated that knowledge of Konkani or Marathi has been made compulsory in government jobs and there can be exemption to this rule only in case of super specialty jobs when candidates with Konkani knowledge does not apply. “Those who want to survive in Goa will definitely study local languages,” he added.
Asserting that English language is a new attraction amongst parents, Parrikar said ‘this is nothing but a fashion or an elite status’. He urged parents not to spoil their children career by imparting primary education in English.
