‘Language dispute may polarise Goa’

Groups backed by Church and RSS at loggerheads over language of instruction in schools

Abrewing controversy over the medium of instruction in schools, where factions backed by Goa’s Roman Catholic Church and the RSS are at loggerheads, could polarise Hindu and Catholic communities, Padma Shri awardee Maria Couto has warned.

Expressing fear that the prevailing air of intolerance could do “irreparable damage” to Goa’s secular fabric, the 2010 Padma awardee in a statement, said: “I pray they do not get derailed into converting their stated position on MOI [medium of instruction] into an ugly polarisation between Goa’s two major communities. Intolerance, which is vitiating the air nationally, will do irreparable damage to Goa’s legendary secular ethos,” the noted writer and academic said.

Two groups, Forum for Rights of Children to Education (Force) backed by the influential Roman Catholic Church, and the Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM) supported by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are currently at loggerheads in Goa over the choice of language of instruction in junior schools.

While the former group backs English, the RSS-led faction is advocating for indigenous languages. According to the 2011 census, 25 per cent of the 1.5 million population is Christian, while 66 per cent are Hindus. The Christian population is “almost entirely Catholic”.