Goa okays grant scheme for students of local language schools

Panaji: Goa government on Monday approved a scheme providing a special grant of Rs 400 per student every month to aided primary schools having Konkani and Marathi as Medium of Instruction (MoI), Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said here today.

"Cabinet gave the nod to the scheme which was announced in the state budget," Parsekar said.

"As per the scheme, aided primary schools imparting education in mother tongue of the child - Konkani and Marathi - will be provided a special grant of Rs 400 per student per month for ten months in a year," he told reporters.

He said the new monthly-grant scheme has been designed in the wake of difficulties faced by schools in accessing benefits under government's "one-time grant scheme".

The government will have to incur a financial liability of Rs 6.56 crore during the academic year 2016-17 because of the new scheme.

Against the backdrop of strident protests by Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM) demanding that mother-tongue be made an MoI in elementary education, the CM said that promotion of primary education in mother-tongue has been the policy of state government "so that the young mind absorbs knowledge faster and understands the fundamentals".

"This can be achieved better and faster if the young mind is not burdened with the dual task of learning a new language and understanding the fundamentals of science and maths in that language," Parsekar said.

He said the government had earlier taken a policy decision to provide incentives to primary schools imparting education in mother-tongue.

"In order to promote primary education in Konkani and Marathi, the government had earlier taken a policy decision to provide incentives to the primary schools imparting education in mother-tongue with one-time initial special grant of Rs 12 lakh and Rs 1 lakh per annum for next five years, in order to improve necessary infrastructure and build resources in the school," the CM added.