PANJIM: State government appointed 17-member expert panel on Medium of Instruction (MoI) will hold its final meeting on January 21 to finalize the report drafted by its Chairman educationist Bhaskar Nayak. The report would help government to zero upon the MoI policy for the students at the elementary education.
The expert panel headed by Nayak was formed more than two years ago on July 15, 2016 by then State cabinet led by Laxmikant Parsekar. The committee was supposed to submit its report to the government on December 31, last month.
Speaking to HERALD, Nayak said the report is ready and would be placed before the committee members for approval on January 21. “Once it is finalized and signed by all the members, it would be submitted to the Government,” he stated.
Nayak refused to disclose extracts of the report stating that “it is prerogative of State government”.
The panel that was supposed to submit its report within 120 days of its formation, was granted five extension, with the last one having lapsed on December 31, 2017. The panel has conducted total 14 meetings across State with school management, PTAs, pro-Konkani and Marathi language supporters and with those in favour of English as MoI.
The State Government through a cabinet decision in 2014 continued grants to all 137 English medium primary schools that saw massive protest from the anti-English protagonists.
This had forced government to constitute a committee, just ahead of 2017 Assembly election. The committee was constituted for wider consultation and facilitation to the government to decide on the MOI issue. The panel had to study the entire system of grants and financial support to the government aided schools for primary education and make necessary recommendations so as to improve its overall efficiency for achieving the educational goals of the State.
The Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM) has already threatened to launch state-wide agitation if the report goes in favour of continuing grants to English medium primary schools.
