Parents and students protesting at the entrance of the education department building at Porvorim. Captured by : Anil Shankhwalker
PORVORIM
A group of parents and guardians of schoolchildren staged a silent protest outside the education department building in Porvorim to oppose the official reopening of schools across the State for the new academic year on Monday,
Holding placards in their hands, the aggrieved parents demanded panel discussions with the New Education Policy (NEP) experts, parents, teachers and headmasters regarding objections raised by the parents on the implementation of the NEP.
Speaking on behalf of the parents, Cecille Rodrigues stated that parents had meetings with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, director of education, Secretary (Education) and Director of SCERT regarding implementation of NEP.
“Secretary (Education) Prasad Lolayencar had assured parents on March 5 that panel discussions would be held on the objections raised by the parents. Since the matter was in court no panel discussion could be held,” said Rodrigues.
“However, when our writ petition was disposed off by the high court, not a single meeting was convened by the education secretary to discuss objections raised by parents and teachers.”
“More than 4,000 objections have been raised by the parents, teachers and well-wishers and there is need to hear all these objections before the implementation of the NEP,” Rodrigues said.
Commenting on the State government’s contention that CBSE and ICSE schools also operate across the State in April, Rodrigues countered by stating that infrastructure in those schools are excellent as compared to poor infrastructure at other schools in Goa.
“Under these circumstances, it was not advisable at all to start schools in April. Hence, it has been our request to the education department to defer the opening of the schools to June,” said Rodrigues.
“We are going to hand over a memorandum to the secretary (education) requesting him to convene a meeting immediately to discuss the objections raised by parents and well-wishers. Parents are not against the NEP, but have issues regarding its implementation,” she added.
Prasad Harmalkar said India is a vast country and climate varies from place to place.
“Hence, it becomes the responsibility of the education department to take note of climatic condition while preparing the schedule of classes. In Goa, the climate is very hot and it is not advisable to keep the classes during April which may affect the health of the students. Hence, government should rethink its decision to reopen schools in April,” said Harmalkar.
