BOOK YOUR HOTEL IN GOA ONLINE

Of Dual Standards and strange bedfellows

Post a comment

As appearing in the Herald newspaper in the opinionated column dated 31/3/2011

In response to the rally of the Forum for rights to childrens education(FORCE) a new opposition seems to be foisted by old minds warped by their outdated mode of thinking. Besides inducing the vandalism of politics into a subject which is the sincere anguished voice of parents of Goan children, these anarchic brains are actually batting for the unaided schools lobby whose trade is virtually threatened by the genuine demand of parents to include English as a medium of instruction in aided schools of Goa.

This new outfit, pompously called “Bharatiya Bhasha suraksha manch” is full of retired brittle bones and is actually a front of unaided private schools who are ensuring that some opposition worth the salt is made lest the demand for inclusion of English has a smooth passage and their own private trade closes down.

Heading this manch is a spent force called Shashikala kakodkar whose father unsuccessfully failed to merge Goa to Maharashtra . She is obviously nursing his wounds upon herself and energizing herself to fulfill her fathers lost causes by instead opposing English and pitching for Marathi. (Most Goans who even voted for her father in the opinion poll will be thanking their stars today that his plans never took shape else Goa would have been relegated to another rambling district of Maharashtra.) Add to this group a certain Mr Arvind Bhatikar, incidentally an IAS officer, who seems to have found a new arena to spend his retirement days after the GBA venture. To him, saving Goa has probably taken a new dimension and it appears that saving Goan children from excelling is his latest mantra. His support for this unholy cause obviously undermines the ideals of the Goa Bachao Abhiyan and will befittingly serve to dwarf his credentials. To add some saffron colour to this group is the voice of Mr Suresh Amonkar and you do not need to imagine hard to discover the wisdom of his presence. Throw in a freedom fighter in Mr Naguesh karmali, whose stubborn colonial hangover simply refuses to relieve him. Curiously, in this group enters a seemingly errant clergyman in Fr Mousinho Ataide who threatens to be the rebelliinsipid movementous martyr owing allegiance to no one but to his own brand of Konkani and Marathi and whose mysterious penchant for unwittingly inducing closure of the Archdiocesan board of schools seems to be unrelenting. Pillioning his joyride is another priest Fr Jaime Couto. Together they bring the desperate catholic flavour to the table. Sprinkle all these language policemen with a stale heap of septuagenarian and octogenarian self-appointed educationists and you have a perfect recipe of redundant ingredients shaping up an insipid crusade.

Most of these people have no idea where the world is currently placed or where it is headed. Instead they are desperately wishing to enforce an era of their whims. An era which they wished existed. They live in the cloistered past and have no vision for the future because their eyesight has turned myopic, they bite more than their few teeth can chew and their legs are weak and bereft of any strength of direction. Their views showcase their shrunken minds and their foresights are the joy of a beggars dream. They have no wisdom to perceive proposals or plans for the employment of Goan children but their frailties surprisingly gush with the last remnants of fossilised energy with detrimental plans galore to lead our children into the throes of a backward class.

In a few years they will be history, but they wish their hegemony of dictatorial thought continues. Despite being under one banner pitching for mother tongue as medium of instruction, all these characters have their own private mother tongues. For some it is Konknni Devnagari .Some others are immersed in “shudh” Marathi for the super tongue, and while the two clergymen should have been obvious ambassadors of Romi Konkani, their behavioral symptoms indicate that it is either Devnagari Konknni or Shudh Marathi galloping in their veins. These two appear to be twiddling on the fence probably wondering which side is more greener to take the plunge. This whole team of strange bedfellows who otherwise bayed for each others blood on each others mother tongue now speak a language of convenience. Their motivation is only to oppose English which has brought the world together. This motivation to oppose English seems to be clearly inspired by the strong lobby of private unaided English schools who have lost their sleep ever since the massive rally demanding English to be included in aided schools was made. Most unaided schools face certain closure if English is made the medium of instruction while the ones who survive will have fewer takers and so this lobby appears to have worked overtime to carve a boring club of so called champions of many mother tongues( and its bitter cousins) which is merely a front for the unaided lobby. Probably even on their payroll.

One would think that since the Forum for rights to children education(F.O.R.C.E) have not antagonized any language or religion but have merely pleaded for inclusion of English as a medium of instruction, everybody would live happily ever after. Every Goan having the choice to decide where to educate their children was their sincere plea. But instead of hailing such noble and harmless pleas, the self attested language protectors have displayed their bankruptcy of thought to oppose the move.

If you call these people over their mobile phone to enquire about their new sense of madness , the first thing they are bound to greeNo Hello in marathi?t you with is the all too English “hello”. Obviously their private mother tongues failed to provide them with an appropriate translation. But the lack of ordinary depth of their mother tongues does not matter to them. They are like horses with blinkers, in a hurry to transform Goans into donkeys.

If these lazy bhasha champions have any love for their language they should conduct mass awakenings among their Marathiwadis and ensure that those aided schools have good enrollment. But who are these wasted brains to tell the rest of Goans to follow their brand of education? The two priests who have joined these Marathiwadis are not only a disgrace to the community but an insult to the church which has finally woken up to the harsh reality awaiting it.

It is a known fact that at the time of implementing the regional languages as the medium of instruction, the government had also stipulated not to allow any more English schools in Goa. However the government flouted its own provision by allowing the number of English private schools to rise from a mere 11 schools to a staggering 127. How come this number rose so high if there was no demand for English schools from Goans? Today middle class Goans have to pay thousands in fees to educate their children in English, which is the obligation of the government. And while there is a hue and cry about the prices of petrol, milk , onions and chicken, average Goans are quietly being robbed daily of their hard earned money by unaided schools for the basic right of education, because the government of Goa desires so. As one speaker at the FORCE meeting pointed out- “ the education in English is only for the rich and not for the Aam Aadmi” . The Aam Aadmi of Goa is condemned to learn in the vernacular tongue or spend a huge sum for education in English.

A close look in unaided English schools in Goa will clearly reveal that Goans irrespective of religion are more keen to send their children to English medium schools. Our MLAs are themselves bent on English medium schools. Why are they then bent on applying another standard for the rest of Goans? Why are our leaders resisting our desire?

The FORCE should also demand closure or takeover of all unaided schools which have sprung up in Goa after 1990 since their introduction was in direct contravention of the provisions laid down by the government. If there is no desire to see aided English among Goans how can unaided English among Goans be justified?

If our politicians do not rise up and show their strength of character to include English as the medium of instruction , the Church should show its mettle by opposing all these candidates in the forthcoming elections. The FORCE should also abandon any reluctance to stay away from elections and field its own candidates and canvass to open Comedians deciding for all goans?the eyes of the masses to the deception of the government in power. While this may help communal forces, it is preferable to reject people who do nothing to improve our living and are instead playing to the gallery of thoughtless comedians

 

Goa's medium of Instruction - Goans finally wake up

Post a comment

Justice may be delayed but cannot be denied. You may fool some people all the time and all people for some of the time. But it is obviously a morons imagination to think that all the people can be fooled all the time.

Goans have finally woken up to the nightmare which tormented them for over 20 years when the government of that day decided to apply its crude wisdom in tweaking with the medium of instruction by erasing English as the medium of instruction from primary education. The reason for that hotpotch decision was the proclamation of deep-seated heart carved love of our politicians for the mother tongue which to some politicians is Konkani, some others Marathi and ..hold your breath... to another club, mercifully...kannada.

In the last 20 years while the world has taken giant strides in all fields and the internet, mobile and various technologies have made their presence, our 40 majesties continue to behave like dimwits and patronise a medium of instruction which is detrimental to the future of our children in a global place for which we need to be completely prepared.

Despite it being brought to their notice that Konkani and Marathi medium of education can only harm a childs formative education, our MLAs are least concerned about the impending harm caused to our children.

It was therefore high time for people of Goa to galvanise and combine forces to put these comedians on notice.And that's precisely what Goa is bracing for at the moment. The Chorus is to" also include English"as a medium of instruction in primary aided schools of Goa.

It is a crucial time for politicians of Goa . With elections round the corner, ignoring the genuine demand of Goans will obviously be at their own peril.