Govt misguiding high court on MoI?

GOANEWS DESK, PANAJI | 07 July 2011 21:10 IST

Goa government appears to have misguided the high court on the Medium of Instruction issue, stating that 90 per cent parents have opted for English medium.

The affidavit filed by the government today is also completely silent on the report submitted by the monitoring committee on the cabinet decision on MoI.

Petitioner and noted educationist Pandurang Nadkarni has been told to reply to this affidavit by Tuesday, 12 July.

Nadkarni had filed a petition in Bombay high court at Panaji, challenging both the cabinet decision and the circular issued by the education department on MoI, while seeking interim stay on both.

The affidavit filed by education director Celsa Pinto states that parents of 145 out of total 178 aided primary schools have sent their feedback forms. The affidavit states as follows:

“Out of 178 aided schools, 145 have submitted their choice of medium of instruction. 90.65% parents have supported English. Only 3.32% students have opted for Konkani while 6.29% students have opted for Marathi. The above statistics clearly demonstrate that policy decision taken by the Government is in public interest and beneficial to the student community as a whole.”

These 145 aided primary schools include 132 schools belonging to the Diocesan Society of Education and Archdiocesan Board of Education.

However, in reality, Goa has total 1252 primary schools – government, aided as well as unaided.

Of these, 141 are unaided primary schools, including 136 running in English medium.

There are total 878 Marathi medium primary schools, including 834 government schools while 38 are aided.

The total number of Konkani primary schools is 174, out of which 137 are aided. Of these, 132 belong to the DSC and ABE.

As per the education department circular, parents of ALL the primary schools were to fill the feedback forms and send to the department.

It means, out of total 1252 primary schools, parents of 1107 have still not sent their feedback form.

In spite of this, the affidavit states as follows:

“I say that the above statistics itself clearly demonstrates that policy decision taken by Government is in public interest and beneficial to the student community as a whole. The students who, because of their economic backwardness were till now not in a position to opt for English medium if it was their choice, are now free to exercise their choice without impediments of economic constraints.”

It appears that the education department has projected opinion of the parents of only 145 schools as the opinion in ‘public interest’ while completely sidelining the opinions of the rest 1107 schools, including parents of almost 960 government primary schools.

In addition, the affidavit has remained completely silent on the minutes sent by the monitoring committee to the government on the issue. It states:

“It is stated that the Monitoring Committee is overseeing the implementation of policy decision of State government.”

The monitoring committee, in a series of meeting, has requested the government to put up the decision once again before the cabinet, while pointing out several flaws of technical and practical nature.

The committee, headed by education secretary V P Rao, included director of higher education Prin Bhaskar Naik, deputy director of education Anil Powar and education director Pinto herself.


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Previous Comments

May I remind you the World has moved on & gone Global.

May I ask you how and why do you write / comment in English ,and. are you located in London too,based on this theory.

What has 60 years of Indian Independence and 50 years of Goas Liberation done for you,linguistically?

Are all Indians (British Raj)only speaking English & ...Goans (Portuguese Inquisitions),Portuguese.

Goans like other Indians do not hate BROWNS.They just prefer their own cultures.

Dont be so daft, or demonstrate knowledge ineptitudes.

- N.Fernandes, London | 10 th July 2011 14:39

 

There are altogether 1252 (government, aided as well as unaided) Primary Schools in Goa. Out of which just 178aided (not government) schools’ demand is considered to file the petition by Mrs. Celsa Pinto on behalf of Government?? !!!why she had to file petition in so hurry??? Did court give deadline of 7th July 2011 to file the petition?? Can’t Government or Education department ask more time and wait for all the Schools to respond???

Can Goa News desk find few facts for the readers? : which schools submitted these forms and from which area do they belong (Especially constituencies)?? Can we know who rushed to Education department with these forms (Churchill, Babush, Digambar….)??? does these forms really filled by parents of the children studying in the said schools or must be filled in the Education department itself in collaboration with CM’s office and PWD Office to submit in hurry and misguide the court. Is it not possible that PWD contractors (who are parents too) being forced to fill these forms in order to keep the awarded tenders in continuation and get the bills sanctioned???? The other side of the coin must be checked. Isn’t it??

- an sh, Goa | 10 th July 2011 13:53

 

if 90%of parents want english,then the next generation of goans would be in london.,writing comments from london.remember inquisition,like spain and portugal,it was also imposed in goa.by a decree,no local languages could be taught/written/read/in goa.-read kankani/marathi.the result -goa had lots of india baiters.they thought they were novo-paclos.-whites .and they started hating browns.,despite the colour of their skins.pl.read late t.b.cunha.menezes-braganca,rui gomes perrira,to know the truth.it was barao de cumarjua [a portuguese]who re-introduced,native languages in goa in the 19 th century.so called upper clasess of goans wd speak konkani only to their creades.now creades will speak in yes no english to their masters/mistresses.

- ghatiyo de belganv, panaji | 09 th July 2011 18:10

 

All said and done, under RTE all children are entitled to free education. English is one of the official languages of India. To deny English medium schools a government grant is discrimination. Not only against the schools but against the parents in the vicinity who cannot afford to pay but want English MOI for their children.

- Bevinda Collaco, Panjim | 09 th July 2011 14:51

 

govt will surely say false things /statements as people in rule are false characters.

- amol, north goa | 09 th July 2011 14:37

 

It is nothing but a face saving attempt by the concerned authorities,which are certainly acting under lot of pressures from Ruling Sections ( State as well as Central).

I hope that wisdom will prevail and whatever the decision implemented will be imposed only after getting the correct opinion from all parents,without using dirty tactics.

Ultimately it is a question of Life & Death for a major section of Society and that is Poor Section.

Haves will not loose much!

- SATISH PAI DHUNGAT, PONDA-GOA | 08 th July 2011 20:15

 

To be fair all schools should be considered.

The weight of single vote, or number of equall votes, alloted to each school must not be same but must be based on the percentage of total students enrolled in that school.

Otherwise votes of parents should be considered directly without any intermediary institution like school.

- B Brother, Earth | 08 th July 2011 17:01

 

How did the Government allow so many English aided schools. Does that not defeat the policy over MOI and regional languages?

- Ludovico, Old-Goa | 08 th July 2011 11:44

 

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