For what it is worth, here is my take on the Rally and the whole issue of English as a medium of instruction in elementary schools.
Personally, I feel the whole rally was vitiated by the presence of the MLAs. Most of the catholic MLAs attended the rally while none of the Hindu MLAs did. Privately, many of the Hindu MLAs are in favour of accepting English as a medium of instruction, but are afraid to voice their convictions for the reason that they might be branded as against the Marathi/ Konkani 'sanscruti' and thus jeopardize their vote banks. The presence of the Catholic MLAs could give communal overtones to an otherwise peoples mass agitation for their demands. In a communal situation, it is but natural that the Hindu MLAs will close ranks and jointly vote against the decision. That pedagogically, children learn better in their mother tongue is an accepted fact. But the premise remains defective in Goa/ India in the light of the fact that the definition of mother tongue is flawed. Parents prefer English as the Language of Learning and Teaching as they perceive English as a 'Power Language' that will empower their children. The best compromise under these circumstances would be to promote a duality of languages in schools English and the Mother Tongue. I visualize the end game being played as follows: 1. Diggu will sit on the fence and keep the status quo seeing as the general elections are less than a year away. Let the new Government take care of this baby. After all said and done, he who runs away lives to fight another day. So why rock the boat? 2. In the other scenario, Diggu will concede the demand and work out some sort of compromise. Unless the strong footballer can some how do some arm twisting. My pet oktopussy tells me to put my shirt on 1. Perhaps G Punter of Goa Suvidha could set up a book for Goanetters and sell tickets to Goanetters. P S it is unfortunate that the Konkani camp is divided on the script issue. PPS We have heard some lofty views regarding the use of Medium of Instruction in schools. Most of these commentators have not been to schools since they left/ dropped out or completed further studies. On the practical side has anyone of these idealists seen the pathetic conditions of students in schools today? Most of them (students) cannot read their texts in Science and Social Science with comprehension. Even those in the tenth. They do a lot of - no almost 100% rote work in studying their lessons. This is why they do badly or miserably in subjects and tests involving reasoning, discussion, orals etc. They manage to pass the exams because the teachers take a lenient view of this. Teachers also have to justify the handsome salaries paid to them. In any case with the clubbing of the exam marks through out the year, marks for practicals, assignment (more often than not done by tutors, parents or plagiarized from the net), home work (ditto) and notebooks etc. It is extremely difficult to fail. That students still manage to do it has always been a source of wonder to me. -- Tony de Sa. tonydesa at gmail dot com ^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v
