MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION by Freddy Agnelo Fernandes, Dubai

In truth I never imagined the gathering to fight for the right to the Medium Of Instruction would be so large, large yes, so large no ! It is indeed good to see that so many people especially parents can come together to fight for a bright future for their children. It is heartening and it evolves in me a hope that we Goans could unite in one voice if push comes to shove.

I was a product of Konkani medium in primary school way back in the late 60’s and the transition to English medium in the 5th standard was not as bad as we had expected, for me and other Catholic students Devnagri script was as foreign as Hebrew or Greek but in the end had to master it and by God most of us did. It was certainly not easy.

As people have expressed, Mother Tongue Konkani should not be promoted beyond a certain limit especially beyond the primary. English is certainly good for the all-round development of students and that is what the students want too.

A lot of people say Konkani is being spoken in our homes and the children can learn it there, but how far is that true ? How many parents and their children actually speak in Konkani at home? I am not being a judge here, Konkani has to be protected and nourished and it has to be done in the homes more than in schools by the parents, and that is certainly the duty of the parents.

In other countries, most of the schools are in their mother tongues, there will be a very few or miniscule number of English schools, in countries like Germany, Japan, China, Philippines and other such, but still their students are as good as any if not better, in India too, if you see Kerala, most of the schools have their mother tongue as the medium of instruction, we all know how successful they have been all over the world. That is because they have just one major language in their state or country, but we all know that cannot be applied to Goa because we have three major languages along with a mere minority speaking one or two other languages, Marathi is spoken and professed only by a large section of our Hindus brothers, Catholics and Hindus (again) speak and profess in Konkani that too, the Catholics prefer Romi Konkani and the Hindus Devnagri, English is spoken and professed by the educated Goan Catholics and educated Hindus to a lesser extent, Urdu and Hindi are spoken and professed by Goan Muslims along with a bit of Konkani.

Now with the majority of Goans being educated it’s obvious that our medium of education (over 80% literacy, quality of literacy is made irrelevant) has to be changed as per time. Now can our Government for once think of the wishes of the people or will they continue to wrangle and dangle the language issue to suit their purpose?

Looking at the distinguished gathering I am as much amused as any one else to see our political luminaries pouring in to comfort and support the students and parents marginalized by the very people running the government which reminds of the saying when translated in English means when the forest is on fire the animals run to town.

I congratulate the parents for making the future of their children their prime objective, but they should not forget their duty towards Goa, and should support equally if not more the people fighting for the causes of Goa and Goans. Do not wait for the stone to fall on your house to come out to voice your concerns. Goa’s issues will affect every Goan, parents and students included.

God Bless Goa and Goans