I would like to disagree with Jos Peter D'Souza on some other points too: (i) While it may sound like a heresy to say so, what about those whose mother tongue (if this is a loaded concept, let's say "first language") is English? In each Census, about 6000 Goans have been claiming that their mother tongue is English. This year, I am one of them. And I feel no shame in saying so. Given the fact that my family has been migrants for three, if not four or five generations (to areas where the spoken language was Portuguese, Kannada, Marathi, Brazilian, Bengali, Indian English, American English, Swahili and Persian), I respectfully accept the decision to shift over to English as the main language spoken in the family about 2.5 to 3 generations ago... This has opened up many opportunities to me. I am grateful and I see no reason for being a hypocrite.
(ii) Without any pretences, do a survey among many Catholic families in Goa and see what the situation is. Likewise, we claim there are 35-40% migrants into Goa. Shouldn't these so-called educationists who swear about the benefits of education in the mother tongue spare a thought for them too? Or is this just an excuse at spreading hegemony in the excuse of promoting sound educational practices? Btw, this is far from a demand restricted to Catholics, diasporic Goans and migrants into Goa. I have many Hindu neighbours who have shifted en-block from the badly-run government primary school which is bereft of students to the convent in our vicinity. Many of them squarely prefer English-medium primaries, instead of doing their pre-primary education in English, shfiting to Konkani again for four years, and then again going to English! Konkani has mainly been a spoken language; whereas Marathi (for Hindus) and Portuguese earlier /English now (for Catholics) has been the literary language. So when we talk about education in the "mother tongue", just what are we talking about? (iii) If we block grants to English on the grounds that it is a foreign language, what do we target next? "Foreign" clothes? "Foreign" religions? Food of "foreign" origin like the tomato, cashew, potato, pineapple, and so many others? Ironcially, some of those beaten with the "anti-national" stick, including those who have returned from a migratory experience to Bombay -- like my friend Adv. Jos Peter D'Souza, having had all the access to English-language education there -- proclaim that other Goans should be effectively blocked from learning in the English medium at the primary level, if they so choose. Unless they have the moolah to pay non-State, non-Church run private schools which teach in English, most of which charge high fees. Many of the children or grandchildren of the "local language" protagonists have gone to plush English-language schools. Out of logistical convenience, my daughter went to a Konkani medium school, and I rue the fact that her reading skills got badly confused and delayed. (Where is the question of education in the "mother tongue", when we speak a form English at home, as do so many of you reading this?) In contrast, my son is going to one of the more reasonably priced English-medium schools, and he loves reading with the confusion of language, script and dialect. On what grounds is this anti-English policy justifiable, when English has such a prominent role in the official affairs of India itself? Another point: the Konkani taught in schools is almost as alien as a foreign language. This is in part due to the t script (Devangari) and dialect (Antruzi) chosen. It started getting promoted only in the 20th century (due to a set of complex reasons, including caste) and can be quite incomprehensible to many who might be familiar with what they consider to be Konkani. The recent reaction of the pro-Romi Konkani lobby, who tried working with the Devanagari lobby for many years, is a hint of the behind-the-scenes manoeuvering. I think all languages are important, and contain a wealth of knowledge within them. Smaller languages are worthy of special promotion. Konkani deserves support. It needs translations, language schools, a Wikipedia in Konkani, more publications, and everything that would make it easier to learn and propagate. But, sorry sir, I simply can't agree that a language can be made "popular" by pushing it down the throats of the people through a mix of compulsion, manipulation and Machiavellian politics. FN Frederick Noronha :: +91-9822122436 :: +91-832-2409490 On 3 April 2011 23:08, Tony de Sa <[email protected]> wrote: > Much as I admire Adv. Jos Peter's skills as a lawyer and also his ease and > facility with the English language, I beg to differ with the solution to the > MOI imbroglio advocated by him. > I say, let us get down to ground realities. I agree with the basic premise > that education in the mother tongue is the best for primary education, but > differ on the question of starting written English only in the upper primary > i.e. std V simply because in that class the students are expected to learn > math and environmental studies (viz history, geography and science) as it is > now termed in the MOI meaning English. How do you expect the students to > cope with this if they are only beginning to learn to read and write the > (English) alphabet? This is the problem that is besetting our schools today.
