Dear Netters, Mario Cabral e Sa has raised a valid point in his Goa Today (July 2003)'Matter of Factly' column entitled "Zupattis Galore". Indeed, the Goa University cannot shy away from its responsibility to the students (the consumers of the eduction service that they pay in terms of fees). It has to conduct lectures/practicals as per syllabus (terms of service contract),conduct exams and declare results as per its statutes (operation system). In the case of the Department of Portuguese it has failed in this duty repetitively..Nalini ( who happens to be my wife's first cousin and a good friend of mine) received her results of M.A. in Portuguese through a writ petition in the High Court. It has been written about by the author in the local newspaper and I have read it ,too..The other problems in the department are of the making of the same Lecturer (sponsorred by Fundacao Gulbenkian,if I am not mistaken, and loaned to the Goa University). Who pays the teacher is not the problem of the students.They have a right to fair assessment and declaration of the results thereof. Having said that, the Goa University does not cease to be a good university just because of this aberration...or because it chose not to continue the services of the then Konkani Head of Dept. or because another H.O.D. cannot get good students to do M.Sc (leave alone Ph.D ) under his guidance (?) The University has had problems with its Finances ever since the first Visitor paid for the travel and stay of his visitors from the University's funds.. Bad habits die hard. People have constructed houses with cement and other materials siphoned out while the new University campus was under construction.. Thanks to Dr.Padmakar Dubhashi,at least the new campus was occupied and the residences made livable.Till 1992 ,the roof in all the residences for lecturers and Professors used to leak except in one room that was beneath a RCC slab.! Things have improved,the rate of improvement has to be acelerated. It cannot be acelerated without constructive criticism.. For constructive criticism one has to make an effort to know the truth and not base sweeping remarks based on suspect information from disgruntled( not 'disullusioned',because these sources are no 'idealists', as a cursory study of their activity in the University will show) employees. That is the difference between Mario Cabral e Sa and Alexandre Barbosa.. It is always good to limit one's writing to what one knows ...unless wring a poem or a work of fiction. There is a difference between reporting and creative writing. All Editors and Assistant Editors should know this difference and put it in practice. Regards, Miguel --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.491 / Virus Database: 290 - Release Date: 6/18/2003 ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
