oHeraldo

Margao, Feb 28: The Diocesan Board of Education has strongly favoured introduction of bilingual medium of instruction in the primary section.

“In our primary section, both Konkani and English could be given equal importance so that the student could learn both the languages well. We are living in a multi-lingual country and more the languages you learn, the better it is,” remarked DBE vice-President, Fr Paul Sagayam, while addressing students and teachers at the All Goa Catholic Schools Day celebration at Navelim on Wednesday.

Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, who was the chief guest at the function, however, preferred not to speak on the subject during his address.

Fr Sagayam made the comment in view of the mushrooming of English medium primary schools that charge fees and the readiness of parents to pay high fees to educate their wards. “This shows that the free education given by the government lacks something. We feel that this problem can be reduced to a great extent by introducing bilingual medium in primary schools”, he maintained.

Fr Sagayam also took the opportunity to highlight the grievances faced by diocesan schools.

While referring to the Official Gazette that says the management of a minority school has the right to select and appoint the head of the minority school and any other person of its choice who possesses the educational qualification, Fr Sagayam remarked, “The Constitution guarantees the right of minorities to establish and administer, but the State government is not ready to give us our due.”

He said the request for a clerk and a peon in the primary section has been rejected for many years.

“Whenever we approached the Department of Education, we were told that the Finance Ministry has rejected the proposal of the Director of Education,” Fr Sagayam told the gathering.