PANAJI
A delegation of Alliance of Romi Konkani Associations consisting of Tomazinho Cardozo, Premanand Lotlikar, Fausto V Da Costa, Mathew Julius D’Costa and Anthony Menezes along with Nilesh Cabral, minister for PWD met Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant recently. The delegation placed before the CM their demands regarding the teaching and learning of Konkani in Roman script in schools in Goa.
Bringing to the notice of the CM that no school in Goa teaches Konkani in Roman script because the Goa Official Language Act of 1987 recognises Konkani only in Devanagari script and hence the first step to giving justice to Konkani in Roman script would mean amending the Goa Official Language Act of 1987 to give equal status to Konkani in Roman script along with Konkani in Devanagari script.
The language agitation of 1987 was fought to make Konkani the Official Language of Goa. A huge percentage of the population in Goa reads and writes Konkani in Roman script also; therefore both scripts should have been considered in the Goa Official Language Act of 1987. However, the followers of Romi script Konkani felt betrayed as only Devanagari script was given official status, pointed out the delegation.
The delegation requested Dr Sawant to amend the Goa Official Language Act and bestow equal status to Konkani in Roman script along with Devanagari. This will provide official status to Konkani in Roman script and the difficulties faced by Roman Konkani will be solved in all the fields such as education, literature, etc, stated the delegation to which the CM assured to look into the matter.
Bringing to the notice of the CM that no school in Goa teaches Konkani in Roman script because the Goa Official Language Act of 1987 recognises Konkani only in Devanagari script and hence the first step to giving justice to Konkani in Roman script would mean amending the Goa Official Language Act of 1987 to give equal status to Konkani in Roman script along with Konkani in Devanagari script.
The language agitation of 1987 was fought to make Konkani the Official Language of Goa. A huge percentage of the population in Goa reads and writes Konkani in Roman script also; therefore both scripts should have been considered in the Goa Official Language Act of 1987. However, the followers of Romi script Konkani felt betrayed as only Devanagari script was given official status, pointed out the delegation.
The delegation requested Dr Sawant to amend the Goa Official Language Act and bestow equal status to Konkani in Roman script along with Devanagari. This will provide official status to Konkani in Roman script and the difficulties faced by Roman Konkani will be solved in all the fields such as education, literature, etc, stated the delegation to which the CM assured to look into the matter.
