BBSM TO APPROACH THE MLAs SOON ON MOI ISSUE

PANJIM: Demanding that the Chief Minister, Mr Digambar Kamat, who till date is silent on his stand as regards the medium of instruction issue should come out with the same within next 24 hours, the Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch on Tuesday said BBSM activists would also approach all the MLAs soon, asking them to clarify their stand in the matter.

"The reported statements of the Chief Minister, give an impression that he is about to fall prey to the political muscle-flexing of some Christian minority leaders and the Catholic Church of Goa," the BBSM convenor, Ms Shashikala Kakodkar told the media at a press conference on Tuesday, adding that the BBMS warns the Chief Minister not to indulge in such dangerous appeasement at the cost of Hindu majority, and call upon the Goan people to unite and wage a war against the enemies of Konkani and Marathi languages, Goan culture and Goan identity. She also threatened to use the ballot power to elect a government, which will support vernacular languages as the medium of instruction at the primary level.

The Konkani protagonists namely Mr Uday Bhembre, Mr Pundalik Naik and Mr Nagesh Karmali, the presidents of Goa Konkani Akademi and Gomantak Marathi Academy, Mr N Shivdas and Mr Narendra Azgaonkar, respectively, and Mr Arvind Bhatikar, besides the BBSM co-ordinator, Mr Subhash Velingkar were also present at the briefing.

Speaking further, Ms Kakodkar observed, "The government seems to have cracked under the threat by some of the Congress MLAs from Salcete taluka that they would walk out of the party if government grants are not provided to the primary level English schools." "However, the government should not forget that education cannot be used to serve the political interest of the politicians or political parties," she noted, mentioning that nothing is final in this world, and if the government decides to give grants to the primary level English schools, then the same could be reversed by the next government.

Stating that presently he has no links with the Congress party, Mr Bhembre questioned as to how a few dropouts could decide on the MoI issue, by keeping experts including educationists away from the real problem.

"Just because someone is pulling out of the party, the Chief Minister cannot take the entire generation of students for granted," he opined, noting that the disastrous effects of deciding in favour of English as MoI would be visible only after two generations of students have passed out.

Mr Bhembre also said that though many parents are in favour of Marathi or Konkani as MoI at the primary level, if the government starts providing grants to the English primary schools, these parents may give in to the fad and admit their wards to English schools.  "It may very well become a fashion to send children to English school right from the primary level," he told the pressmen, pointing out that the Academic Authority mandatory for deciding the implementation of the RTE Act 2009 has still not been formulated, when this Authority has the right to decide on the MoI issue.

Mr Shivdas, who attended New Delhi meetings on the MoI issue with the senior Congress leaders, said that he has already told these leaders that his stand is in support of the Konkani language.  "If needed, I will also quit my post as the Goa Konkani Akademi chief," he added.

Mr Velingkar informed that the taluka level meeting of the BBSM would be held on May 26 in South Goa at Mahila Nutan High School, Comba, and on May 27, in North Goa at Saraswat College hall, Mapusa, to decide on the future course of action.

Mr Bhatikar maintained that the clause 29 (2)(F) of the Right to Education Act 2009 states that as far as practicable, primary education should be given in the child’s mother tongue. "The Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Mr Kapil Sibal seems to have totally missed the point in this context, as he has no idea about the language situation in Goa," he said, questioning as to how one could prove that Konkani and Marathi are impracticable in Goa as mother tongue.