MY FIRST SCHOOL AND TEACHER – PART 1 MY FIRST SCHOOL The Portuguese never made a concerted effort to promote education in Goa. As a result, even by the beginning of the 20th century very few Goans were educated. Job opportunities were few. Therefore, some opted for English Primary Schools so they could at least migrate to the neighboring Union of India or proceed to Africa and/or the Middle East in search of a job. Initially, educational institutions in Goa were controlled by the Church through different religious orders. Thus, in the beginning of the 19th century, the primary education was limited to Parish Schools. As Governor Generals changed, so did the educational system in Goa. By the beginning of the 1950s, the Goa Freedom Movement had gained momentum. The Portuguese were worried. All of a sudden they realized that they had failed in their duty to provide basic education to Goans. Therefore, they hurriedly introduced as many Primary Schools in villages as possible. A student, who wished to study through a medium other than Portuguese, had to necessarily pass his Primeiro Grau exam and only then he could continue his studies in that medium, which was mostly English. Since the prerequisite to join English medium was Primeiro Grau, many joined Portuguese Primary Schools, thus increasing enrollment figures substantially. This was the reason why suddenly Portuguese Primary Schools sprung up in villages from the third decade of the last century. Primary Schools were promoted by Pedro Francisco Massano De Amorim (1862-1929) during his tenure as one of the Portuguese Governor Generals to Goa from 1926 to 1929. Although Anjuna was one of the most backward villages in Goa, it was one of the first villages to have a Portuguese Primary School. Around 1890 a move was initiated to establish an Escola Primária at Anjuna. The construction of a building for the purpose was begun at Tembi at an elevated ground at the center of the village, but, as usual, after the structure reached the plinth level, it had to be abandoned because of internal bickering among various cliques in the village. The building was finally erected by the main road, about two hundred meters away from the original site - it still exists and functions as a Marathi Xalla (school.) http://bit.ly/PortuguesePrimarySchoolAnjuna (Photo by Joel D’Souza) For those days, it was a big building with the following dimensions: Length – 35 meters Width – 11 meters Height of main walls - 4.50 meters Inner width of L-shaped corridor – 3.10 meters The wooden roof on the right side rests on 15 huge pillars, as can be seen on the photo, each measuring 2.50 meters high by 0.50 meters wide, built at an equal distance from each other. A parapet all around the corridor closed the gaps between pillars. Whenever we wanted to exit sideways, we had to jump from the parapet. Now, they have opened up a portion of the parapet and installed a steel gate. A concrete footpath has now been built on the outside of the parapet with a metal pipe railing to hold and climb the slanting path, as can be seen on the photo. The open gaps between pillars of the whole corridor are now closed with steel grills. The school is well-ventilated. The hall had two main entrance doors - it now has four doors. Initially, there were 18 windows – 9 facing the road, 7 on the inside of the corridor, and 2 by the main entrance. Now, two more windows have been added at the west end of the hall – a total of 20 windows. During our time at the school, a solid wooden partition divided the vast hall into two sections. These sections were meant for morning and afternoon sessions but only a morning session was held. Presently, two laterite stone walls divide the hall into three sections and Marathi classes are held in all the three sections. The original wooden partition was used to create a small office at the west end of the hall, which now has been converted into a washroom. Since the entrance was wide open, goats, cows and buffaloes would enter the corridor during the rainy season and dirty the place. Therefore, a wooden gate was installed, which now has been replaced by a steel one. We entered the corridor by stepping on seven steps, which still exist. There is a cross by the roadside just ten meters away from the school entrance. This cross is called “Dovorneancho Khuris.” A dovornem is an olden-day laterite stone pedestal meant to off-load a pantt’ttem or basket filled with material, which is then pulled back from the dovornem and placed on the head without anyone’s help. Usually, a dovornem consists of a large, single pedestal but here it has two pedestals at two different levels – a lower pedestal and upper pedestal. Head load was placed on both pedestals; hence, it is a unique cross in Anjuna. The lower as well as upper pedestals and the main stand on which the cross rests, are now covered with glazed tiles except the cross, which remains in its original shape. A zinc sheet top serves as a shade over it now and protects it from the sun and rain. The annual litany was held on May 4, 2011 (instead of May 3.) As can be seen in the background of the photo of the cross, an oddachem zhadd or banyan tree (only a few are left in Anjuna now) next to the cross, welcomes everyone to the school. http://bit.ly/DovorneanchoKhurisAnjuna (Photo by Joel D’Souza) This tree did not only provide us its shade but also helped us in our physical activities - we swung on its roots from one end to the other during our free time and even before and after school. Sometimes, we joined two roots with a knot, placed a piece of wood, sat on it comfortably and swung from the tree. Today’s children may have seen such swinging in Tarzan movies but we were real-life Tarzans of that era, as we swung from one root to the other like monkeys! Sometimes we missed to catch the root at the other end, fell down and broke our crown or fractured an arm! So, what! That was part of our adventurous life! The whole area around the school is presently enclosed in a stone compound wall. The exact date when the School came into existence is not known but it is estimated to have been constructed around 1910. A couple, Antonio Athaide Lobo of Siolim and his wife, Claudina Noronha, taught at the Escola Primária in Anjuna. So, the school building is definitely more than one hundred years old. The very fact that it survived for over a century proves that the material used was genuine and of high quality, and, of course, it was well-maintained. If timely maintenance is done, the building can last for another hundred years, but will it escape the axe of demolition and replacement by a concrete structure? That’s the biggest question! This was my first school where I learned Portuguese alphabets, and it is here that the foundation of my education was laid! I loved my school very much. I also liked my school building and its yellow color, which continues to be the same till today. We joined the Portuguese School with Konkani as our mother tongue. We did not write Konkani but we spoke Konkani all the time; we explained and expressed ourselves in Konkani. Our teacher also used Konkani to explain to us. Those days, Escola Primária was colloquially known as ‘Aula,’ which roughly translated means a class or a teaching place – a school. In fact, the Aula was the landmark of Anjuna – the passengers would tell the conductor of carreira or public carrier to stop at the Aula lagim/kodde or by the school. When people questioned us: “Tumi khuim gel’leat?” (Where had you been?) We answered: “Ami aulak gel’leanv” (we had been to the school.) Moi-mogan, Domnic Fernandes Anjuna, Goa Mob: 9420979201 To be continued …………..
