Language of delay: Forms now in Konkani & Marathi

PANJIM: The Education Department sought to create further confusion and chaos among parents by announcing that a fresh proforma will be issued to parents through schools for filling up forms to decide on the language of choice for their children, in Konkani and Marathi.

Meanwhile, around fifty thousand-odd forms filled by parents exercising their choice of language has reached the Education Department on Thursday — the deadline for the submission of forms.
Later, speaking to Herald Deputy Director Anil Powar said, “The Department will issue proforma in Marathi and Konkani so that parents can read the forms and fill them in the language of their choice”.

The Department actually admitted that this was due to the pressure mounted by the BBSM which threatened to protest vociferously if the proforma was not sent in Konkani and Marathi.
The Education Department will now have to deal with the existing filled forms and the huge delay the process of sending and receiving filled forms in other languages would take.

“We will begin classifying all the forms from tomorrow. It is a huge task and is expected to take time as we sift through the forms of each school”, sources in Education Department said.
However, sources, said that there are several issues that are expected to crop up during the course of implementation.

“What if a school has just one or two students whose parents choose regional language? Will they be thrown out of school? Will they have a separate division just for them?” sources asked.
The logic baffles. The Department is in no position to explain how this will further help the process and why this move was made after the process of seeking parents views were taken.
Meanwhile, the Education Department will begin dealing with the forms it has already received.
Besides, the Department will also have to separately conduct inspections to see if schools have the necessary infrastructure before granting them permission to open separate divisions for the different choices of parents.

Questions are also being raised about the availability of textbooks in English with sources saying that even if the order was given to print text books, it would take at least another two months to be available.

The directorate of education supplies free textbooks to children under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan scheme.
Commenting on the situation, sources in the Education Department said that all these issues will be raised before the Government and that the new medium of instruction will not be implemented until all hurdles are cleared.
Courtesy : Herald

Goa Chaka Chak campaign yet to create impact in state

PANAJI: The state is not sparkling clean as yet, though the Chaka Chak, Goa (CCG) campaign was rolled out with much fanfare nearly five months ago on Republic day.

The village panchayats are either totally disinterested or the interest levels are not enough to carry it forward, say garbage managers.

Lack of political will, inactive management committees and problems in identifying sites are major reasons for Chaka Chak Goa moving at a snail's pace. "The panchayats are too slow in taking the schemes forward," says Patricia Pinto, state coordinator, CCG.

Many environment conscious villagers, irked by the sight of garbage strewn around, are keen on installing a waste management system. "But you can't force a village to have a system if the people sit back and wait for things to happen," says Pinto.

The garbage management committees in panchayats, which can serve as pressure groups at village level, are largely dormant. "Though there are some villagers in these committees, they are not pressurizing the panchayats to avail of the scheme," Pinto said.

"The sarpanchas and panchas do not seem interested. And we have to keep calling them to form the committees," says Valerie Madre Deus, CCG North Goa coordinator. Agrees K D Sadhale, co-ordinator for central Goa. "The campaign has elicited lukewarm response from some sarpanchas. They are more interested in awarding the contract to some private agency to lift the garbage on an annual basis," he said. Moreover, the panchayat bodies are run by paid staff, who already have their work cut out.

But while many panchayats are yet to form committees, a few village groups are compelling their panchayats to take up plans for door-to-door collection. "Villagers in Mandrem, Siolim and some other panchayats are pushing their panchayats to show initiative in taking up the scheme," said Clinton Vaz, CCG South Goa coordinator.

"Some panchayats contacted us, but the main requirement to avail funds is setting up of infrastructure to store the collected waste," Pinto said. In some panchayats, these bodies are yet to find a place while others are yet to commence work to erect a shed or enclosure for dry waste.

Infrastructure should not be a problem if panchayats are determined to pursue the scheme, Vaz said. "Some panchayats have taken rooms or godowns on hire while Varca and another panchayat are storing it in one of the rooms of their own panchayats," he said.

Sadhale said that opposition to locating storage points is also hindering selection of sites. "Some do not want the storage point near their compounds," he said.

Courtesy:Times Of India