the goan I network
PANAJI
Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Eduardo Faleiro demanded that in order to provide quality education to students, suggestions made by Prof. Madhav Kamat Committee should be implemented on a war footing by making appropriate financial, administrative and organisational arrangements from the beginning of the ensuing academic year.
Most of the 15 points suggested by the government appointed Prof. Madhav Committee have not been implemented, said Faleiro.
“Quality education is lacking, especially in the Konkani medium and as a result, many government primary schools are shutting down,” he stated.
“Existing vacancies of teachers in government primary schools should be filled on priority basis. Multiple classes should not be taught by different teachers in the same room. The non-educational tasks other than election duties assigned to government primary teachers should be withdrawn. Election duties should be restricted to duties relating to polling. Cadre headmaster and clerical assistance should be provided for schools having minimum enrollment.
“All untrained teachers should be provided training facility on an urgent basis. These are some points suggested by this committee which have not been implemented,” Faleiro said.
Faleiro also demanded that as recommended by the Kamat committee, the language of study at the primary level should either be Konkani or Marathi, because while Konkani is the mother tongue of the people of Goa, Marathi is and has been the literary language of a large segment of our population.
Defending his demand he said the importance of national languages and assertion of national cultural identity is growing.
“In emerging India it will be necessary to be fluent in at least two Indian languages “ the local language and Hindi for success,” he stated.
He pointed out that all countries including the Gulf have now begun to control immigration and increasingly provide jobs only to their own nationals.
He said, “In the next generation those who are not fully conversant with national languages are likely to be deprived of jobs and other spheres of activity.
“Emigration will also become difficult. English is at present the main international language. In the globalised world, the importance of English is inescapable and English may be taught as a subject from the third standard.”
‘Install portraits of freedom fighters in assembly hall’
PANAJI: Senior Congress leader Eduardo Faleiro on Thursday demanded that a portrait of Dr T B da Cunha as well as of other leaders of the freedom movement of the state be displayed in the Goa Legislative Assembly.
Addressing a press conference at the Congress office in the city, he said, ‘’It is important that the memory and teachings of the leaders of our freedom movement should inspire our people.’’
The former union minister also demanded that lecture in memory of freedom fighter Purushottam Kakodkar, which was held by the Goa University for three years from 2011 but later discontinued, should be reinstated.
