[lg policy] India: Parrikar backs regional languages in Goa schools

[Harold Schiffman]

Parrikar backs regional languages in Goa schools
Submitted by admin4 on 6 June 2012 - 9:25pm

By IANS,

Panaji : Defending his newly-proposed policy on medium of instruction
(MoI), Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar Wednesday said he would
strongly back regional languages like Marathi and Konkani, as compared
to English, in Goa's primary schools.

"I studied in a Marathi school up to the sixth standard and my English
is as good as anyone else's," Parrikar told reporters following a
meeting of his cabinet, which formally approved the new MoI policy.

Parrikar later joined the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) where
he studied metallurgy, and went on to become the first IIT-educated
chief minister in India. The new policy proposed by the Parrikar
government will be vetted by a government-appointed panel of
educationists and will be kept open to objections and suggestions. The
question whether the medium of instruction in Goa's schools should be
English, regional languages or the parents should be empowered to
decide it, was one of the major poll issues.

The BJP had been insistent on making regional languages as a medium of
instruction for students in primary schools, while the Congress had
backed the idea of allowing parents to choose the language to impart
education to their children.Parrikar now claims that he was in favour
of students learning in their mother tongue because it was a globally
and scientifically accepted principle.

"A good student can learn in any language, whether it is English,
Marathi, Hindi or French. But if the student finds it difficult to
study, it is scientifically proven that he finds it easier to learn in
the mother tongue," Parrikar said.

http://twocircles.net/2012jun06/parrikar_backs_regional_languages_goa_schools.html

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