The language of disagreement (Herald)

May 9, 2014

 

Confirms parents’ choice

The order confirms that the choice of parents has to be safeguarded. That’s what we have been saying. It sets to rest all controversies. 

Fr Zeferino D’ Souza, 

Secretary,  Diocesan Society of Education

MOI policy has to be revisited

  The State will have to revisit its MOI policy on the lines with court interpretation. The policy, though announced in January, is yet to be notified.  I do not think government needs to release grants to all schools, as the RTE act while stressing on free and compulsory education has said that grants should be given as far as practicable to schools in regional languages only.

 P R Nadkarni, 

Educatio nist, part of consultative committee on education

No grants to schools with English as MOI

Supreme Court judgment is not relevant for Goa as the issues and the situation in Goa and Karnataka are different. We agree that medium of education cannot be forced on children and Goa government has taken note of it while drafting the policy. On the grant front I firmly believe that grants should not be provided to schools with English as MOI.

 Madhav Kamat, 

Member consultative committee on 

education

People are jumping to the wrong joy

The issue before the SC was whether a state government can impose mother tongue as Medium of Instruction in all the primary schools of the state. The SC has ruled that the state government has no power to impose medium of instruction on the school.

The issue before Goa is whether the government should give grants to primary schools imparting education in English. 

The issue before the SC does not affect Goa in any way. Some people are jumping to the wrong joy. They say their stand is vindicated. They are confusing the people of Goa.

 Fr Mousinho de Ataide

Govt can’t give grants to MOI in a foreign language

The issue before the Supreme Court has nothing to do with the situation in Goa. The SC has struck down the Karnataka government’s order on imposing Kannada as the medium of instruction in the schools. The SC order does not apply to Goa. Here, you are free to take education in any language. The issue was in regard to grants, which was totally absent before the Supreme Court.Our only contention was that the government should not finance schools imparting medium of instruction in a foreign language. 

Again, there is confusion regarding the SC order on minorities. The SC only talks about the linguistic minorities, because in Karnataka there are Marathi speaking people in areas such as Belgaum. In Goa too, there are linguistic minorities such as Kannada and Urdu. The Catholics in Goa are not linguistic minorities. They are a religious minority.

 Adv Uday Bhembre

English can be mother tongue if parents say so

A very important issue which has been touched upon by the Supreme Court in the instant case is the mother tongue. If you go by the SC order, English can be a child’s mother tongue if the parent says so. Secondly, the SC order might have made a reference to the linguistic minorities, the Constitution does provide for protection to the religious minorities in respect of education. Not giving a grant to a school will be choking that school to death.

Advocate Cleofato Coutinho

http://www.heraldgoa.in/News/Local%20News/The-language-of-disagreement/88466.html