By Sebastian Mariano Borges
Chief Minister Parsekar has advised parents to send their children to Mother tongue medium schools. Our ex-C.M. Parrikar had once stated that 51 percent of Goa’s population has registered Konkani as their mother tongue while 16 percent have declared Marathi as theirs. Hence, one would expect that these figures would be reflected in the number of Primary schools that the Government of Goa has established in the respective languages. But the factual situation is far different; not even 10 percent of Government primary schools are in the “Konkani” medium, and, in five of the twelve talukas comprising over 60 percent of the state’s area, not a single “Konkani” school exists. In fact, there is not a
single full-fledged Konkani medium primary school, government or private, in the entire State of Goa. A school must essentially possess at least these three attributes: adequate number of students to justify the salary of teacher/s, proper and adequate space for the instruction and recreation of students, and adequate number of properly qualified teachers. At any stage of the scholastic ladder, a teacher must possess two types of qualifications: (a) s/he must have studied the subject being taught at a level higher than the class in which s/he teaches it;
(b) s/he must possess a professional qualification as prescribed for the scholastic stage in question. Thus, a college/university teacher must have cleared the NET/SET; a B.Ed. or even M.Ed. is of no avail.
A High school/Higher secondary school teacher must possess a B.Ed. degree; NET/SET clearance is useless here. Similarly, a primary school teacher must have a D.Ed. in the language of the medium of instruction, not B.Ed. or NET/SET; a teacher who has studied Marathi but has D.Ed. in English is not considered eligible to teach in Marathi medium and, conversely, a teacher who has done his/her D.Ed. in Marathi cannot teach in an English medium school. But the situation in the “Konkani” primary schools is an enigma, perhaps unique in the entire world. Almost every one of the teachers has never studied
Konkani language as a subject, and none of them possesses a D.Ed. in Konkani, because the course itself is not available anywhere. Hence no school qualifies to be called a Konkani Primary School, and the unfortunate sufferers are Catholic students. This is one of the reasons why Catholic parents are reluctant to jeopardize the careers of their wards by sending them to these substandard “Konkani” schools.
But the outfit calling itself Konkani Lok Shakti (KLS) is not concerned with this aspect and will never petition the government to start such a course. And they have a reason. Presently those who have studied Konkani in school (mostly Catholics) cannot pursue a D.Ed. in Marathi because they have never
studied the language; they have to, per force, do D.Ed. in English. But at the interview stage for a post of Konkani teacher, such candidates are ruled out because “their D.Ed. is in a foreign language,” and a Marathi D.Ed. candidate is invariably selected. Thus we have a peculiar situation wherein those
who have never studied Konkani teach in that medium while those who have studied the language are debarred from doing so. It is for this reason that while the majority of Konkani students are Catholic, almost all Konkani teachers are Hindu. Thus, when Diocesan schools shifted to English medium, the Hindu
(Marathi) teachers of Konkani felt threatened; and hence BBSM (which included every member of KLS) came on the roads in protest, not out of love for any language. Presently, Hindus corner all the Marathi and Konkani posts; but if a D.Ed. course in Konkani is conducted, they will no longer be able to do so.
Hence the reluctance of the government and the lack of interest on the part of KLS whose communal composition gives the game away.
I am sure that our CM, being a Headmaster of a High school, is not unaware of all the above facts. Therefore, assuming that he is honestly and sincerely convinced that the mother tongue is the best MOI for a child, and that he is not intent on taking the parents for a ride, he should immediately begin preparations to start a D.Ed. course in Konkani. Then, beginning next academic year, he should compulsorily send the serving “Konkani” teachers for this D.Ed. training as well as a course in Konkani Grammar and Orthography, in batches of, say, fifteen to twenty-five per year. After all the existing teachers have been so trained, he should open the doors of the course to Konkani-qualified new entrants so that other schools would also be adequately equipped. Only then he would have the moral right to advise the parents as he is doing presently. Until that is done, grants should be given to all schools, since education is the right of every child and providing proper facilities is the bounden duty of the government which it has abdicated thus far.
(The author is a retired College professor and Konkani writer.)
