'Merge values with education'

Give importance to morals. Teach language in such a way that good values and morals get emphasised, said Karnataka Legislative Assembly Deputy Speaker N Yogish Bhat after inaugurating a symposium on ‘Mother Tongue in Education System with Special Reference to Konkani’, organised by Konkani Prachar Sanchalan in Mangalore on Monday.

Stressing on the role of parents in shaping their children’s personality and encouraging their talents, he said there is a need to teach the children the ‘art of living’.

“Culture can remain only if the language lives,”he said. Speaking about the diversity in ways of speaking Konkani he said it would be interesting to discuss differences in dialects.

The Konkani Draft Syllabus prepared by the Draft Syllabus Committee consisting of the Committee Convener Professor Xavier D’Souza and members Professor Steven Quadraz, Dr U Tara Rao, Dr Alwyn D’Sa, Professor Veronica Carlo and Konkani Prachar Sanchalan Executive Secretary Victor Mathias was released by Southern Regional Language School Director and Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) in-charge Director Dr Kedusto Kapfo on the occasion.

III Language

“The SSLC students are presently studying Konkani as their third language. There is a need to make them pursue Konkani even in their PUC and Degree as the second language and government should take immediate steps so that this system is implemented during academic year 2012-2013,” said Xavier D’Souza who added that there is also need for teachers to teach Konkani. Teachers should be trained in this regard in their D.Ed and B.Ed classes, he said.

Start PG Course

Mangalore and Karnataka University should start Post Graduate programmes in Konkani language. They should also provide facilities to undertake research in Konkani language, literature, culture, tradition and other subjects. Government should create a post of ‘Konkani Teachers’ Co-ordinating Officer’ for smooth functioning of the system, stressed D’Souza.

Delivering the Key note address Dr Kedutso Kapfo spoke on the five major problems that Konkani faces.

Firstly, Konknai speakers are spread over different localities and the language has been seriously influenced by other languages.

Each region has a different dialect, vocabulary and even grammatical variations, he said.
Mutual animosity among various religions and caste groups is another major problem as many have taken secondary status of Konkani language and culture to their religion, he said.

Parents have misconceived that their language is secondary to majority languages and they prefer to admit their children in schools where Konkani is not taught. Though Konknai has been adopted as the State Official Language of Goa, most schools are reluctant to create space for Konkani, even within the state of Goa, he said. Finally, Konkani has been written in various scripts such as Devanagiri, Roman, Kannada, Malayalam, he added.

“The primary objective of making students study through mother tongue is not for promotion of that language but it is for effective learning and application of the learned subject. Framing mother tongue syllabus concerns linguistic complexity and utility of the language for furtherance of knowledge. It gives direction of pedagogical principles and hence the road map of the subject to which the direction the goal leads to,” he said.