The recent show of strength by the Forum for Rights of Children to Education (FORCE) and Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM) is a reminder of some unfinished business in the education sector. The two groups virtually shadow each other. If one holds a morcha the other one follows. A press conference by one induces the other to either follow suit or do something similar to cancel out the other. In that sense they are almost on the same footing, but for one major difference. FORCE is of the view that each parent be given the right to choose the MoI. BBSM, on the other hand, wants the medium of instruction at the primary level to be in the regional language.
The question is, are these two positions antagonistic? Should the demand of one group be chosen to the detriment of the other. Certainly not. So, can the demands of both groups be accommodated? The demand for English and regional languages as MoI truly represent the whole of Goa and it would be unjust and cruel to foist one solution on the other. It might be recalled that when parents were asked to choose the medium of instruction in a poll conducted when Digambar Kamat was chief minister the choices that emerged were Marathi and English. Konkani, the official language of the State, came a distant third. Then the verdict was very clear. Parents made multiple choices and the task for the government was to accommodate all these choices.
The problem lay with the stand taken by the two government (Congress and BJP) which had to tackle the problem as it flowed from the term of one into the second. While the Congress, under Kamat took a decision to extend grants to all primary schools, English included, the BJP government restricted grants to diocesan schools which had switched to English as MoI. As a trade-off Konkani was made compulsory till SSC. The situation now is that Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar has promised to pass a bill to cement its decision while the BBSM is opposed to it.
This is far from the truth. No matter how much we love to hate politicians, we have to admit that they have their ears to the ground. Both parties smelled a groundswell of support for English as MoI and were quick to realise that this support cut across community lines. So they responded to it. This stance paid off as the policy was accepted and implemented without a hitch. The only rider was that permission would not be given to open English medium primary schools. The present MoI policy formulated after much debate, defines the fault lines and proves that all language demands can be accommodated. The next logical step would be to cement it through an amendment bill.
