On the ongoing MOI controversy, a number of view points seem to have cropped up;
Freddy Fernandes said: In Response to : Albert Desouza said: Dear Goanetters I had been in the teaching field since 1994till 2004. Each time I had to teach the fifth and the sixth standard it was a nightmare. Children coming from Konkani and Marathi medium did not know a word of English and I had literally to teach them alphabets and how to write simple sentences. Then Freddy Fernandes goes on to give his own personal contrasting experience stating: I along with a lot of others, am a product of Konkanni medium in Devnagri, I hope you'll believe me when I say, initially it was tough to adept to a script that was totally foreign but most of us managed to master it along with English as a subject and the transition to English medium in standard V was infact smooth, I surely do not think any of us were zombies nor for that matter unable to read alphabets or create basic sentences, infact we picked all the subjects with ease. The only explanation I can give for this "phenomena" is, may be we had better teachers than the students you'll have been referring to. Today I am sure; I and my fellow students are neither any less educated nor less competent than any of the English medium educated. My comment: Freddy, I began my teaching career in 1969 and have help various positions in school. I would tend to agree with Albert for the simple reason that you cannot generalize on the basis of your personal experience. If you sincerely believe what you say leaving emotion and sentiment aside, then you need to do a reality check. I invite you to visit any aided secondary school, particularly a rural school and check for yourself. Nightmare is a bit of an understatement I should think in this context. Exceptions will always be the rule. let me cite a spectacular example. A student Shobha entered English medium secondary school in Std V from Govt. Marathi primary. At the first test she failed in practically all subjects. But, Shobha was a very determined student and by the time the year got over, she not only passed the class, but was a first ranker. This went on and in higher classes, she represented the school in the Spelling Bee team. At the Mapusa Jaycees Spelling Bee she was in the winning team that won the Bardez championship. This entitled our team to contest the All Goa Jaycee Spelling Bee finals at Vasco da Gama. At Vasco da Gama, our team won beating all odds. So when coming back, we were forced to have lunch as it was late. So the team was taken to a restaurant in Mapusa. I was accompanying the team and I felt it would be fitting to give them a real treat. At the restaurant, one of the finest in Mapusa then, Shobha was very reluctant to enter the restaurant. Reason: she had never eaten in a posh place before and she had never used a fork and spoon to eat. I managed to persuade her that it was perfectly fine if she had to use her fingers but then she was feeling shy because of the other children. With a good deal of persuasion and coaxing I managed to get her inside. Once inside, again to reassure her I told her that she could eat what she wanted and to eat in whatever manner was comfortable with her. Ultimately, Shobha managed pretty well for herself. Now tell me Freddy, can anything deter such a student? Naturally, she passed the SSC with flying colours. Now Dr. Uday G Barad goes on to cite his own experience and then that of his childrens'. While Dr. Barad studied in Marathi primary and did extremely well at English secondary, his children had the opposite experience. Both studied in English primary and did English Secondary and did extremely well but both (parent and children) regretted their own parents choice of medium of instruction. Then Dr. Barad goes on to add:This situation clearly suggests that once child (sic) grow up they do question parents for imposing their decisions on them - despite the fact that child's age at the entry to primary level can never allow them to make informed choice! This argument may not be true with all children and parents! My comment: I normally do not tend to agree with Dr. Barad but his last quote is something to ponder about. Again, those who cite personal experiences do not realize that the text books and syllabi of today are radically different from those of the past and that in modern times, there is a downward flow of learning/ teaching matter every few years. Again to cite an example, what was the study matter for a Ph D might today have filtered down to the level of Std. VIII or Std. IX. There were times when the subjects like sex education were talked of in hushed tones and things like quantum mechanics were talked of only in higher academia. Today these are common place and even discussed in a school syllabus. Those who talk of carrying on smooth a silk, seamlessly after having studied in non-English primary schools should just try and read the texts in the English medium Std V and then talk for themselves. And if their arguments were correct, why did the vernacular language lobby force the retraction of the Marigold series of texts in English Std III? Weren't these books written specially for regional language children? The conclusion drawn by Dr. Barad is quite true. Whatever is decided whether to give grants to English medium primaries or not, there will be a considerable segment against. So guys, a while back, I had told you that my pet oktopussy has predicted either status quo (stalemate) or dual Medium (Each one wins) Bet your shirt on Oskar the oktopussy! -- 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
