The Parra Government Primary School boasts of new benches, vitrified tiles and brand new tables and blackboards but the irony is that only 20 students fill the school that is meant to handle hundreds.
“What can we do if parents don’t want to send their children to government schools?” says one teacher as she prepares to teach her class of 20. They say that while they would prefer teaching a class with more children, they’re left with nothing much to do all day.
Meanwhile in the same village, a mother prepares her son to go to school but even with a school nearby having the best of amenities, she wishes to send her son to St. Britto’s in Mapusa.
“I would rather send my son to an English medium school than a government school that teaches in Marathi. English is the most well known language the world over. It only makes sense to have my child start learning in that language,” she says.
To her, having her child grow studying English is a better option than having him get onto the English bandwagon when he starts Standard V.
This is the trend among many parents in North Goa. Statistics provided by the Directorate of Education are proof to this trend too.
In the year 2013-14, 2977 children were enrolled into government schools in Bardez while a whopping 9406 were admitted into aided and 4244 in unaided schools. By the year 2014-15, students being enrolled in government schools reduced to 2472 while those in aided increased to 9737 and 4357 in unaided schools.
Parents who have themselves grown up studying in Marathi medium primary schools too are currently having change of heart. “Sure, I’ve studied in a Marathi medium school but when it comes to my child, I would rather he study in English. At home anyway we talk in Konkani, it’s not that he’s not exposed to the language anyway. Money is not a problem,” says another parent who also sends her five year old daughter to a school in Mapusa instead of the nearby Parra primary school.
Talking about the issue, local MLA Michael Lobo says he is concerned with this trend that has according to him been going on for years.
“Parents today don’t want their children to learn everything in Konkani or Marathi even if the government school offers an English language. They would prefer having it the other way around,” he says.
He is also of the opinion that the government needs to put more efforts into reigniting the interest of parents to send their children back to government schools. “The government has built the infrastructure but now they have to figure out how to convince the parents to put their kids here. It’s not about the surroundings for them but the quality of education,” says Lobo.
He predicts that it will take a long time to convince parents to come back to the government primary schools. But until then, English medium aided and unaided schools will continue flourishing in their capacities.
But this trend has also had its negatives. In the past two years, two government primary schools were shut down as a result of lack of student enrolment. Department statistics show that of the 73 schools functioning in 2013-14, two shut down while two new aided schools were set up.
