Time for some mature thinking on Medium of Instruction
The struggle to bring back English as the medium of instruction in the primary classes has gained momentum. There are many conflicting views amongst our legislators on this aspect. But the parents are of one mind on the matter.
Surprisingly, some schools in the cities of Panjim and Margao have not bothered to make a move to support this great cause. In fact some principals feel that nothing will come out of this move. But a vast majority have pinned their hopes very high. This is simply because the freedom to choose what is best for the children by the parents supersedes all other intellectual thinking processes.
Well, if the unaided schools lobby is to be protected, then the resistance amongst the legislators would be very stiff and equivocal. But here, this being election preparation year, most of the MLAs have decided that this is a movement they cannot oppose without seeing some drastic results in the long run!
It is interesting to note the statement made by the Leader of the Opposition. He claimed he studied in the Marathi medium in the primary level. He found it very difficult to switch over and speak English in the later years. But he improved his English only by reading.
Granted, that Mr Parrikar took a lot of trouble to learn the English language and mastered it as well. But in these days of extreme pressure (the students were not pressurized much during the days Parrikar Bab was in school, I am sure), why do you want to burden these small minds with so much extra intellectual baggage? If they learn in the English medium right from the start, will they not avoid the ‘struggle?’ Mr Parrikar claims to have faced while switching over from Marathi medium to English medium in Std V? Would these small, innocent minds not be better equipped to deal with the growing English popularity? Despite having the largest spoken language in the world, Mandarin, as part of its linguistic culture, the Chinese have realized that only English can make it a strong partner in this world of globalization and economic development. Closer home West Bengal has realized it, and quickly, many states have begun to realize it. Also Mr Parrikar must realize that all students are not at the same intellectual level as he is. So, it is a fact that some might take longer than he did to pick up the language. Wouldn’t it be too late to learn after the primary level? But if they started with English from day one, things could be much easier as they get to class V and later… Why does the Goa government, despite Goa having such a high literacy rate, giving us the impression that they are playing to a lobby run by well-known businessmen who manage unaided education businesses in the name of Trusts, around Goa? We need some mature thinking coming from the icons of democracy - our MLAs.
As this movement has clearly pointed out, there is a vast difference between medium of instruction and learning a language. Medium of instruction must be in the language that is best for communication. In this case English is a globally accepted choice. Konkani is absolutely important and must be a compulsory subject from Std I to VIII, to conform to Elementary Education as defined in the RTE.
The Education Minister has brought forth a proposal to finalize the policy of medium of instruction by the end of this budget session of the assembly. He has promised to consult all stake-holders while finalizing the process. Who, may we know, are these ‘stake-holders’? Are they the Chief Minster, Education Minister, Chief Secretary and Director of Education? Two days have already elapsed since the announcement has been made. The budget session is not going to last long. Why has a list of these so called stake-holders not been announced? There seems to be a definite attempt to shy away from being transparent. Also it seems to be a statement made only to try and stop parents from coming together in large numbers at Azad Maidan for the meeting that was held there in regard to medium of instruction.
The Digambar Kamat led government is famous for this move. The man himself has already made a vague statement when he realized that over 50000 signatures of parents had been collected. Besides activity on facebook and other networking sites will tell you that we have overwhelming support for the cause. The web-spies of the men in government seem to have already informed them about the goings-on. So, the statement was made by both the chief minister and education minster in an attempt to dilute the effects of the Azad Maidan meeting. There have been similar instances in the past. When a large group of entertainers met some time ago at Clube Gasper Dias at Panjim regarding the sound restrictions, probably threatened by the numbers, some MPs and MLAs proposed to support the cause of easing sound restrictions. But four years later, as expected, nothing has happened. We must be weary of attempts like these by these gentlemen.
English is undoubtedly the language of communication the world over. We need to plug into global reality while also taking into account the local scenario. So, given the global scenario and other compulsions, English as medium of instruction and Konkani as a compulsory subject is the only option we have left before us. We must do this for our children. But, we need to be aware that our children are not our future. They are citizens of the present and are very much part of the present. We are looking at a better present for them. If we do this the future will look after itself. We, as parents need to take the right decisions for them. We need to remind the government that we parents are major stake holders in the policy-making process. We should have a right to decide what is good for our children. We don’t need a very lowly educated bunch of individuals deciding for us. Even the highly educated seem to have biased thinking.
As parents, we do hope better sense prevails. Let every parent and child benefit from a very well thought out decision. English needs to be the medium of instruction. What we need to further think is how to improve the standard of English in schools after the merciless battering it has received all these years - twenty years to be precise!
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