PANAJI
Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Friday said that the Medium of Instruction (MoI) Bill will be tabled in the Budget session of the State Legislative Assembly.
The meeting of the Select Committee held on Friday remained inconclusive with most of the members of the Committee seeking more data on the subject. The Committee is likely to meet during the Assembly session scheduled to be held from January 11 to 15.
Speaking to The Goan, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said, “The meeting is inconclusive. We will have to sit again. Most of the members have asked for more information. Not all things are in tune with the Cabinet decision. In the spirit of the Cabinet decision necessary changes need to be done in the Bill. Till then status quo will be maintained”.
The Select Committee meeting chaired by Parsekar was attended by Margao MLA Digambar Kamat, Curchorem MLA Nilesh Cabral, Sankhli MLA Pramod Sawant, Cuncolim MLA Rajan Naik, Dabolim MLA Mauvin Godinho. Ponda MLA Lavoo Mamledar was the only member of the Committee who did not attend. The meeting was also attended by Education Secretary Virendra Kumar and officials of the Education Department.
Sources present at the meeting informed that most MLAs were of the opinion that there are lot of differences between the Cabinet decision and the MoI Bill which need to be looked at. However, after the first meeting which was held last year, the copies of the Cabinet note and the MoI bill were circulated once again to all the members of the Committee.
Nonetheless, the members have also asked for more time to study the issue.
It was also learnt that the Committee has asked for statistical data from the Education Department on the number of schools vis-Ã -vis students studying in Marathi medium, English medium as well as Konkani medium schools. Additionally, the Select Committee has also asked for position prevalent on MoI in the nearby States. This data is required to be submitted at the earliest.
