– This Konkani saying exactly fits to the tune expressed in the article ‘The hypocrisy of Goa’s protesting awardees’ in The Goan Everyday, October 25 edition.
To begin with, Roman script even from far distance does not belong to our part of the nation and therefore simply does not cover under any circumstances for the script of any language of our nation. Hence, does not deserve any merit at any cost whatsoever.
The not-so-old writers of this article, please stay away from teaching us what Uday Bhembre is. He never indulged in hate speeches against the Catholic community in the course of the medium of instruction controversy nor for any other purpose, I challenge. I would like to advise these writers to learn about Uday Bhembre in the first place. Please meet him, argue with him before spreading criticism. Yes, he did speak harshly against those, irrespectively of community please mind who ignorantly demand the English as medium of instruction for primary education. What is wrong in it? Yet, the question arises, what was the need for those writers to specifically and foolishly mention ‘the Catholic community’. Is it the hypocrisy of these writers, I may claim?
Secondly, not a single soul even objected to the right of the parents to determine the manner in which their children are educated. However, no, no grants. We will definitely combat against the demand of grant to the schools preferring English as medium of instruction for primary education.
As I feel, it is to be perceived that for our little ones who are hardly 5 – 10 years old. It is not the language that matters most but the contents of the subject which required to be imbibed with ease and comfort. And surely, this task can be well handled by one’s mother tongue and mother tongue only. Of course for bright students, language may not be a barrier but for others, I suppose it definitely makes a lot of difference. To be frank and without getting emotional, can our parents, barring a few, be expected to make a required choice on such heartfelt matters?
And therefore, in conclusion the demands of these intelligent but half-baked writers fall beyond the scope of entertaining.
Arvind Kakodkar, Chicalim
