The Need to spell out the language policy in education: Though there are 1,250 primary schools in the State, only 217 used Konkani as a medium of instruction as against 1,004 in Marathi. Statistics produced by Thomas Stephens Konkani Kendra, show that out of 979 government primary schools, 930 are of Marathi medium and only 81 have the facility to opt for Konkani as the medium of instruction.
At the high school level, there are no Konkani medium schools as against 17 in Marathi, [with ten of them run by government ] ,5 Urdu and 4 Kannada medium high schools. Though Konkani is the State language of Goa, in the entire State there is not a single Konkani medium high school. All Diocesan schools that provide Konkani as the third language from fifth to tenth standard.There are 135 government secondary schools and government high schools where facility to study konkani as a third language is not only denied, but students are forced to take Marathi as the third language. At the X standard level the number of students who opt for Konkani as the third language have not crossed 40 per cent of total number of students who appear for the examination. At the XII standard level, it is still worse, with not more than 30 per cent of total number of students appearing for the examination. Since 1995, 27 Konkani medium schools have closed down as against 19 in Marathi, with 13 new English medium schools opening up. In 1975 The Sahitya Academy, New Delhi recognised Konkani as an independent literary language. However, when the recognition was granted, there was no mention of official script for Konkani. Viva Goa. Miguel ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
