*KONKANI! MARATHI! ENGLISH!* by Adv.Radharao F.Gracias
* * There has been a rise but no flow in the demand, for grants to English medium primary schools, in the State since the last quarter of century or more. Somehow the Governments seem determined, not to concede to the genuine demands, of the parents, without much reason. The refusal to provide grants for English medium schools, is based on false pedagogical premises that young children, must study in their mother tongue, to understand the subject. If this be so, there ought to be a rule mandating that children, must study only in the mother tongue. Marathi, admittedly is not the mother tongue of anyone in Goa although it is claimed, to be the language of religion and culture of a section of Goan Hindus. Children of these persons, are admitted to Marathi medium schools even though Marathi is not the mother tongue of the child. How is it that these children, for whom Marathi is as foreign as English, are not adversely affected by not studying in their mother tongue? The demand of parents is that grants should be released to all schools, irrespective of the medium of instruction. It is the parents who will decide, whether the child ought to study in English, Konkani or Marathi. The Government is bound to respect this inherent right of the parents. As school education goes now almost all students shift over to the English medium in class fifth. Do pedagogists say that it is in the interest of students to shift the medium a quarter of the way up? Will it not be ideal for students to learn in the same language from the beginning? Parents send their children to school for advancement of careers of the children and not for advancement of the language. I fail to understand how studying in Konkani till fourth class will help improve the language. It is much more logical to believe that a student studying Konkani as a compulsory subject up to Class Twelfth will have a better understanding of the language. Goa is the only State in the union where grants are released to all regional language schools, while there is no reciprocal arrangement, in the other States for the purpose of teaching Konkani. A regional language, is defined as the official language, of any State of the union. By that definition English qualifies as a regional language, since it is the official language of the State of Nagaland. On this count alone, English medium schools are entitled, for grants. Konkani, we shall continue to speak, whether we study it or not, being our mother tongue. The study of Portuguese language did not destroy Konkani neither has the study of English language, done so. If grants are released to English medium schools it would sound the death knell of Marathi, since not many parents will send their children to Marathi schools. Obviously, if no one studies Marathi, no one will know the language. Konkani will thus emerge, in a generation or two, the sole official language and the hurdle of Marathi, will be cleared once and for all. The Devnagiri protagonists who are opposing grants to English medium schools are at heart supporters of Marathi. Most of the Konkani writers in Goa have studied in Marathi and that does not exclude Pundalik Naik, Uday Bhembre, Damodar Mauzo, Datta Naik, N.Shivdas, Dilip Borkar and others. There is a feeling that these Marathi educated persons write in Konkani not so much because they love Konkani, but simply because, they stand no chance of gaining recognition, by writing in Marathi a language that is highly advanced and has a vast field of literature. Their loyalty to Marathi is understandable. After all, how can they be ungrateful to Marathi language, in which they have studied? And if they are ungrateful to Marathi, how can we trust them to be grateful, to Konkani which they have not studied? The Devnagiri protagonists write in Konkani at night, read Marathi papers in the morning and oppose Roman script in the evening. These elements are also opposed to Konkani in the Roman script, because a large number of writers in the Roman script would also compete for the Sahitya Academy Awards, thereby diminishing their chances. The creativity of the Konkani Tiatrists is well known, and many of them would easily corner the Sahitya Academy Awards, if not for the script barrier. These Devnagiri protagonists are therefore intrinsically Marathi wolves in Konkani garb. Konkani in the Roman script would have much greater acceptability, than Konkani in Devnagiri, has managed as of today. There are greater number of Konkani speaking people, in Karnataka and Kerala than in Goa who write either in Kannada or Malayalam script and are cut off from Konkani written in the Devnagri script. As against this, all Konkani speaking people in Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Mumbai and all over the world are perfectly at home in the Roman script having studied in English medium at higher levels. Hence Roman script can be the natural script for unifying Konkani speaking people. The Devnagiri protagonists cannot see beyond their noses and are destroying Konkani, by excluding majority of the Konkani speakers from the language. Historically, the Goan Catholic community has been forced to work out, of the State and Catholics were the earliest people, to take up education in English, which enabled them to work throughout the World, particularly in British East Africa and British India. The knowledge of the language, also helped the members of the Catholic community to work, on board the ships and practically all over the world. It is the remittances from the largely Catholic non resident community, that has enabled the Goan economy to flourish. Today, the trend has changed and the Goan Hindu Bahujan Samaj has realized that their Catholic brethren have advanced, through the study of English and desire to follow suit. Many Bahujan Samaj members have just begun, working on board the ships and in foreign countries, where knowledge of English is a must. These members of the Bahujan Samaj, have been deprived of the opportunity of English education through the dubious policy of grants, made by upper caste vested interests who have historically oppressed the Bahujan Samaj. Marathi has been given a special status in the Official Language Act because it is claimed to be the language of religion and culture of a section of Goan Hindu community. Fine. No grievance there. But what about the Catholics? Konkani in the Roman script, is certainly the language of religion and culture of the Catholic community. Our liturgy is in Roman script. Our Tiatro, mando, etc. are in Roman script. So why not a similar status for Roman script Konkani? Does secularism mean pandering to the majority community and sacrificing the interest of the minority? The Hindu has Marathi and Konkani in the Devnagiri script. The Catholic has nothing. That is Goan secularism. Support Gomantak. Oppose Goa. That is the scenario. Have you seen the supporters of Devnagiri Konkani? You will notice all have given up the dhoti and dress up in Western style trouser/shirt. That does not make them anti national. But if the Catholic choose to dress in Konkani in the western script that makes them anti national. And this article confirms that Radharao Gracias is communal. If you do not believe it watch out for the comments that will follow. On the net. In the press.
