Pragmatism and Moderation

I believe pragmatism and moderation should be two important considerations of good governance, specially in a democratic set-up. There are and will always be views and views on any given subject. We have the fundemental right of free expression enshrined in our constitution. The exercise of this right enriches us because we have the free facility of listening to or reading points of view other than our own. As worthy citizens of a democratic state, we have to be open to the opinion of other citizens, and willing to modify our own if reason so demands. Rationalism, not emotionalism, should be the guiding light in any public discourse.

An elected government should be even more sensitive to the various shades of opinion. It is very rarely that a government is elected on a single issue. In our own history of post-liberation Goa, we have the example of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party government, elected for four consecutive terms but its main policy of merger with Maharashtra defeated overwhelmingly in the Opinion Poll held during the same period. In the recently held state general elections, people voted for the Bharatiya Janata Party taking various issues into account and not on any one single issue. It goes without saying that the people rejected the Congress also on various grounds notwithstanding that some were very dominant.

It is in this context that I appreciate Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar for his medium of instruction policy for primary schools in Goa. It was a brilliant stroke, moderate and pragmatic. While upholding the principle of primary education in the regional language in no uncertain terms, he made allowances for a huge number of students who were already studying through the English medium in government aided schools according to the choice of their parents. And twenty-five thousand is a very big figure, coming from across all communities. Whatever may be the views of strong minded  regional language proponents, it is a fact that the demands of so many  parents could not have been ignored by a democratic government, specially so when they had placed their trust in the CM. Some have called it a betrayal. Now in this type of case, betrayal is a relative term. If the CM had announced a different and non-inclusive policy, many voters who placed their trust in the prospective CM in the March 2012 elections would have also called it a betrayal of trust. So let the matter rest where it is. But all stake holders have to move on from here, pragmatically and moderately.     

First the English medium aided primary schools, whether coming under the Archdiocesan Board of Education or any other management.  Pride of place should be given to Konkani. It is not only our mother tongue but the official language of Goa and the language of our cultural identity. For too long, we have not given her the importance she deserves. We have tolerated her as a medium of instruction in the past. I personally know the difficulties we’ve had because the written and spoken Konkani differ so much, the differences varying taluka-wise. Now as a subject, and hopefully a compulsory one, we should spend additional time over it. We should inculcate a positive attitude in the children towards Konkani. Do not punish them for speaking Konkani but on the contrary encourage them to do so. Even while teaching other subjects like environment, history, geography, etc. let teachers make a generous use of Konkani. Promoting love for Konkani should be a priority of the managements of schools. It can be done in so many ways like using Konkani at public functions, organising debates, elocution and essay competitions in Konkani with attractive prizes, etc.

The parents must also promote Konkani in their homes and neighborhoods, and take extra care to see that their children do well in Konkani as a subject and otherwise. It is so much better to speak good Konkani rather than bad English at home. If only there were a provision against murdering a language in the Indian Penal Code!!!

Likewise, those schools which use the regional language as medium of instruction should make extra provisions for teaching good English, perhaps as a compulsory subject in the primary. The CM has to be commended for wanting to introduce additional qualified teachers with degree/diploma in education to take up this task. If proper care is taken to impart good English in the regional language schools, then the difficulty of changing to English in middle school will be mitigated. And the clamour for English medium may decrease.

And last, the strong proponents of regional language medium should also be realistic. The world is moving at a fast pace and we need to keep up with globalisation. But globalisation should not mean decline of our culture. We need to promote our culture and identity even more in the context of globalisation. Globalisation and local pride can and should go hand in hand. I have a genuine request to make to the Konkani writers and academicians: please make the written language simpler, closer to the spoken Konkani. More people, including students, will then read and write Konkani. The popularity of Konkani will increase in times to come. So be it.

Published in The Navhind Times, Panorama 10.06.2012