The Congress on Thursday continued to pressurize the Manohar Parrikar-led government on the medium of instruction (MoI) issue, demanding that the government should extend grant-in-aid to those schools that want to switch over from Konkani/Marathi to English in the current academic year.
Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) working president Francisco Sardinha said that the government has already given grants-in -aid to 127 schools which have switched to English medium, but wondered why the government was depriving other schools (that want to make the switch this year) from getting grants -in-aid.
Sardinha, who is also South Goa’s MP, said that now that the government has decided to give grants-in-aid to Konkani/Marathi schools, they should start creating awareness so that more students join them.
The government has recently announced to continue grants-in-aid to 127 schools which switched over from Konkani/Marathi to English, and will continue till the academic authority submits its report on what the medium of instruction should be.
Reacting to the recent announcement that the government will make compulsory written and oral tests in Konkani/Marathi for government jobs, Sardinha said that the government should only take oral interviews in Konkani. “If the government takes the written test in Marathi, it would be backdoor entry for jobseekers from Maharashtra at the cost of Goans,” Sardinha said.
He gave the example of last year, when the post and telegraph office in Goa conducted interviews for various posts, there was a criterion that he/she should know Marathi, therefore around 70% of the vacancies were filled by youth from Maharashtra.
He also said that everybody staying in Goa knows Konkani, even the Maharashtrians. “If the government does not change this, then Goan youth will be deprived of government jobs,” he said.
The South Goa MP also said that the government should honour the decision of the previous government and recruit all the youth who had been issued offer letters, as the government is a continuous process.
Courtesy : TOI
