Goa MLA says govt primary schools should switch to English, sparks controversy
Mar 12, 2025 06:15 PM IST
Goa MLA Michael Lobo alleged that the politics of language was killing the government run primary schools in the state
PANAJI: Goa MLA Michael Lobo on Wednesday caused a flutter when he called on his own party’s government to change the medium of instruction in government run primary schools to English, saying that the politics of language was killing the schools.
He was speaking on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Goa’s first chief minister Dayanand Bandodkar, affectionately referred to as Bhausaib, who is credited with starting an education revolution in the state with the commencement of mass primary level education through government schools in Marathi and Konkani.
“Everyone wants to enrol their children in schools with English as the medium of instruction. But government schools teach in Konkani and Marathi. The (government) schools are closing one after the other, and the government is taking decisions to hand them over to NGOs. Let the government make changes. All primary schools should now be in English,” Lobo said.
“But if all schools teach in English with Konkani or Marathi as a compulsory subject then the problem will be solved,” he added.
School education in Goa is in either Konkani or Marathi at the primary level for those studying in government schools, but the medium switches to English at the high school level.
A move to change the medium of instruction to English was met with a strong pushback from certain quarters, who termed it as “anti-cultural”.
“Whoever disagrees is welcome to debate with me. Bhausaheb Bandodkar had started these schools. The schools were started in 1964, but today in our village there is only one class left. Earlier 90% of the village children would study in these schools. Today only 1%. If this problem has to be solved, let them start teaching in English,” Lobo said.
Chief minister Pramod Sawant, however, refused to be drawn into the controversy. “The government’s policy on English is already clear,” Sawant said.
The Goa government’s policy has mandated that all government schools would have the medium of instruction either Marathi or Konkani while private schools who wished to secure government grants would have to switch to Marathi or Konkani. An exception, however, was made for minority (church-run) institutions.
