Hello Goanetters When we have talented people who take undue advantage of the chairs for which they were elected, we face ruin. Thanks to these able leaders, Goans are no more as much in demand as were then as Teachers, the educators of India. Unfortunately, the very English which was spoken with proficiency, has sunk to its depths now after the introduction of Devanagri Konkani in all subjects. There may have been some government aided schools which on the sly used to teach English, and their students have been doing quite well. But when I read the news about students giving up on education after 5th standard, I felt sad that the reason may have been the students from these schools never got to learn English.
If only the leaders had thought of introducing Devanagri Konkani as one subject with remaining being in English, this would not have been the sad end of education which few days back mentioned that Goans have beaten even Kerela as a 100 person educated state and soon after that the news of dropouts. I have interacted with many Keralites here in Saudi, and I feel sad that many do not know any other language except Malayalam and within one month master Arabic, but in spite of being in India, do not know even a word in Hindi. Better late than never as the saying goes, I am happy that the leaders have woken up from their slumber, but only hope that they become wide awake and impose English in all subjects and one subject in Konkani maybe making it compulsory subject up to graduation. They have already played with many a students education. All that cannot be reversed, but hope the system of education changes Cheers Jerry Fernandes Subject: [Goanet] English must from Std II To: "Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994!" <[email protected]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252 http://oheraldo.in/node/9048 English must from Std II BY HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, JAN 27 — To reduce the dropout rate in schools and help students switch-over smoothly to Class V from vernacular language- medium primary schools, English language will be introduced as a subject in Standard II from 2006-07 in all government primary schools in the State. Announcing this at a press conference here, Education Minister Luizinho Faleiro said that government aided/unaided primary schools would be free to introduce English from Standard I. This step was recommended by the School Education Advisory Board (GSEAB) after a meeting held on October 11, 2005 He said that the dropout rate is high in Goa — Standard V to X it ranges between 40 and 50 per cent, while for higher secondary level it is about 45 per cent. This is also because from Standard I to V, the medium of instruction is vernacular language whereas in the Standard V medium is English. The change of medium in the Standard V is what makes it difficult for students studying in vernacular medium to cope with studies later, stated education minister. The schools have been intimated of the same. Moreover, universalisation of education programme was introduced basically to help students of vernacular language to make an easy transition to English medium. However, the education minister made it clear that there is no plan to bring in total change in medium of instruction, adding he believed that children should get education in their mother tongue. -- Salaam ali kum. Gabe Menezes. London, England
