THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION SHOULD BE LEFT WITH PARENTS by Nisser Dias

The light seems to have started to glow at the end of the tunnel with some parents summing up the courage to demand change of medium of instructions in government or government aided schools in the state of Goa. Last week saw some Parents-Teachers Associations (PTAs) across the state resolving to demand from the government that it should not link financial aid to schools depending upon the medium of instruction adopted by the schools.

This demand was long overdue but none be it the school managements like the church or otherwise, teachers or parents had the courage to get the ball rolling to insist that decision taken by the Progressive Democratic Front in 1991to provide financial aid only to those school who switched the medium of instruction from English to Konkani or Marathi. The mindless decision of the then government had disastrous effects on imparting basic elementary education, teachers had to undergo crash courses in Konkani and Marathi which was not an easy task as they themselves had to first learn and understand the language in a way to instruct its students, parents who too had English background or rather did their schooling with English as the main language had to struggle with their wards. Worse still was the fact that the shift from English to regional language was the root cause for commercialization of education in the state of Goa. The decision of the PDF government led by Dr. Proto Barbosa was like a pivot because immediately after the implementation of the change of medium of instruction hundreds of government recognized unaided private schools mushroomed and their number rose from mere 2 schools in Goa to 158 and still growing. Of course successive governments that reigned over Goa after that neither saw the damage that was being done nor were they interested in bringing about a change in the Education Policy to curtail the mass exodus of children shifting to private schools to escape instruction in Konkani or Marathi. This was a clear indication that the decision of the government was against the market forces, which sadly did nothing good for the students, teachers nor did it help in furthering the cause of mother tongue. What it only did was, attracted businessmen to venture into elementary education which led to exploitation of the parents.

For the political class it was not in their interest to revert back to English as there would be political backlash from handful of regional language chauvinists, popularly known as Konkani-wadis or Marathi lovers or know-it-all politicians. However most of the politicians either educate or seek to educate their children through English medium and force Konkani and Marathi on lay parents. This is not at all acceptable.

Furthermore the decision of the government to extend medium of instruction through regional language upto eighth standard seems to be another ploy of the government to extend support to the unaided private schools. What has been happening till date is that parents admit their children in unaided private English medium schools till fourth standard. At the time when children had to be admitted in fifth standard there was a mass exodus from unaided schools to aided schools. And the reason is not only exorbitant fees but also because aided schools have experienced teachers when compared to private schools. By extending medium of instruction through regional language to eighth standard the government is playing into the hands of few pseudo educationists who not only want to control elementary education in Goa but want to make education a money spinner.

The question before us today is to understand whether successive governments in the state have contributed towards the development of Konkani language in the literary sense for the last two decades. What is the contribution of Konkani authors to the curriculum. Has the government encouraged Konkani authors through financial aid? What is the contribution of the Konkani protagonist or rather language chauvinists to education since Konkani was made medium of instruction at the primary level. Four Marathi language it is a different scenario as Maharashtra is huge state and their literature has much wider scope. What the government needs to do is to first improve Konkani literature and only after careful analysis introduce it in schools as a compulsory subject, be it in aided or unaided school.

It is our irony of fate that successive governments did even have the wisdom to adopt some sort criteria so as to prepare fourth standard children for the transit shift from Konkani to English in fifth standard. It does not end here successive governments during the last 20 years since the change of medium of instruction, have failed to oversee that teachers who complete their B.Ed are trained to instruct in Konkani also. And now the government is worsening the situation by extending medium of instruction in Konkani to Marathi to eighth standard.

Before the implementation of policies that will have repercussion for a long period of time, government should conduct an in-depth study in the last 20 years since Konkani or Marathi has been the medium of instruction as against those years when English was the medium of instruction. Compare and analyse to see the advantages and disadvantages vis-a-vis global needs and requirement. Then take of survey of parents to check their pulse and understand their point of view, initiate a debate where the views of all the stake holders in education are invited and studied and only then implement its policies.

The government cannot and should not function in an arbitrary manner by just taking the views of illiterate politicians. Infact education should be left with credible and genuine educationists and surely not with politicians who sway as per the movement of briefcases supplied by businessmen clad in educationists clothing.

After all said and done, let bygones be bygones, the parents who have come forward to start a movement to pressurize the government to revert back to English medium of instruction should be given all the boost and fillip to take the movement forward. I know that it is uphill task which will take a while of struggle to make those in power to see the reality but if all the stake holder like the Archdiocese Board, teachers, students and parents join hands, the government will have to bow down.

Finally Government should provide grant-in-aid to all institutions imparting education in any language. The choice to choose the medium should left with the parents as they have the welfare of their children at heart and not politicians or protagonists.