PANAJI
The Education Department has been caught in a tricky situation as three of 17 government high schools, which were just recently renamed after the martyrs, now wish to revert to their original identity.
A second thought given to the government’s decision came in much after the formalities were complete. The Goan has reliably learnt that the department is likely to seek the intervention of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, who also holds the Education portfolio, to work out a solution.
“The managements of three government high schools have either verbally or through letters requested the Directorate of Education to revert to its original name. We might request the CM to intervene in the matter,” Secretariat sources said.
The government has refused to divulge the names of these schools stating, “The confusion will be sorted out at the earliest.” Two of these institutions are located in North Goa while one is placed in South.
Sources further claimed that the school authorities were given a free hand to choose the names of martyrs, list of which was circulated by the Education Department; however, inclusion of non-Goan martyrs and duplication in the names have disappointed many. A senior bureaucrat admitted initial glitches while quickly clarifying that it was not intentional and the school managements were not compelled to accept the renaming exercise.
“Some government schools wanted options with names of Goan martyrs only. The renaming exercise was nonetheless carried out followed by another problem of duplication in names… the schools are located in different areas but this isn’t convincing. We might examine these aspects,” he said adding, “There was no compulsion on the head of the institutions, the Parent Teacher Association, and school management committees. Probably they didn’t realize this.”
The Directorate of Education had identified 71 government-run high schools and seven higher secondary schools for renaming. In December 2022, the government issued a notification agreeing to the names proposed by the concerned institutions.
During his State address to mark the 75th year of India’s Independence, Sawant declared that all government primary and high schools will be named after freedom fighters and martyrs, who fought for Goa’s liberation from the Portuguese rulers.
