PANAJI: The Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM) has yet again begun its campaign across the state over the medium of instruction (MoI) issue, demanding withdrawal of grants to English medium government aided schools.
“BJP is involved in this conspiracy to finish off regional languages. We are part of India and it is our identity. The BJP in Goa is conspiring to finish off this identity. They want to make casinos our identity,” said former long-time RSS chief of Goa and now BBSM convenor Subhash Velingkar.
He demanded that the state should also allow new Konkani and Marathi medium primary schools to be established. Velingkar said that the grants of Rs 400 per student announced for unaided Konkani and Marathi schools is not being paid currently by the state government. BBSM has demanded that these grants be paid with retrospective effect to such schools.
“Former CM Manohar Parrikar and the current CM Pramod Sawant have admitted in the state assembly that Konkani and Marathi schools have shut down by hundreds during their term. During the BJP government’s term itself, over 400 Konkani and Marathi schools have shut down in the state,” said Velingkar.
He said new Konkani and Marathi schools should be allowed to be set up by private organisations, who have applied for the same, to fill the void left by closure of government schools offering education in these languages.
Velingkar said that if Konkani and Marathi schools continue to shut down at the same rate with no permission given to start new institutions in these languages, it will mean the end of regional language education in the state.