Let me go on record to openly support International community’s decision to punish Col. Ghaddafi of Libya for killing his own civilian population in the East of Libya. The madness of Col. Ghaddafi should be treated well till he is o.k. mentally. The late assassinated president of Egypt Anwar Al Sadat told Ghaddafi openly ‘You are mentally deranged’ and later on Sadat said ‘I will teach you a good lesson for your arrogance’. Following the latter statement, Sadat bombed Libya and Ghaddafi remained silent like a cockroach.
Col. Ghaddafi with his autocratic rule of 4 decades still thinks that it was his Devine Right to rule Libya thru suppression of his own Arab Muslim people. Like Saddam Hussein, Ghaddafi also is killing his own people and some Muslims and Arabs are blaming the West for liquidating their people. In his 8 years war with Iran Saddam Hussein killed thousands of Arabs and Muslims. Now it is Christian West that is come to the rescue of Arab Muslim people of Libya to save them from the genocide of Ghaddafi.
Ghaddafi is blaming Al Qaeda for fomenting troubles in Libya but is it not the same Ghaddafi who supported and promoted Al Qaeda against the West & Christians? Kuwait before its invasion by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was pampering Palestinian and following the invasion of Kuwait it was the same Palestinians at individual level and also at official level that betrayed Kuwait and Kuwaitis thereby creating a very bad image of them at all levels. For their troubles in Yemen, its leaders are also blaming Al Qaeda but this was the same Yemen that supported Al Qaeda activities against Christians and the West.
For being the godfather of Muslim terrorists, Ghaddafi created lot of problems to the West in particular and World in general but when his turn came to face the music he became a coward. When he was the president of USA, the late Ronald Reagan threatened Ghaddafi with dire consequences if he does not behave well and to keep up his threat Reagan with an advance warning bombed Ghaddafi’s house. Fortunately Ghaddafi was saved because he moved to different place at the time of bombing, unfortunately his adopted daughter was killed in the bombing raid.
Ghaddafi has no respect for neither regional nor international organizations whose memberships Libya enjoyed. Three days back he promised the world community to abide by the cease fire in his land against East Libya but immediately he broke his promise provoking France, UK, Canada and USA to take military action against his massacre of his own civilian population who are asking for freedom to live freely with free thoughts. When Ghaddafi is killing his own people and maltreating them the civilized world cannot sleep idly. It is the responsibility of the civilized world to come to the rescue of the suffering Arab Muslim Libyans in the East and this is what the Christian West is doing with the consent of the world community. Ghaddafi cannot ignore the wishes and decisions of world body even though he feels world body is irrelevant when shamelessly he holds the membership of UN.
Some years back he said openly that NAM is a big joke incapable of doing anything worthwhile while Libya is also a part of NAM. During and following the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, Ghaddafi played a questionable role. He was one of the Arab Leaders who said Kuwait problem should be solved under Arab League but AL finally turned out to be a toothless body to force Saddam Out of Kuwait. In the face of Monster leaders like Saddam Hussein and Ghaddafi, AL collapsed like a pack of Cards. AL looks like a body of ‘Gauva Shipping’ (Turkish Coffee drinking body). Even in recent problem AL in the initial stages was reluctant to allow world body to handle the situation but ultimately it realized its inefficiency finally allowing the West to handle Ghaddafi’s barbarity thru World Body.
The current situation in the Arab World demands surrendering of some important rights to the common people. Arab populations are far advanced and more educated now than what they were 50 years back. The revolt in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Oman and other places was done by the new educated generation with western democratic and decent values. They will not stop till their ideological dreams are implemented by their current autocratic rulers who are known to be exploiting the masses in their respective countries by amassing the wealth of their nations for them and for their sons and daughters. Ghaddafi is one of them and his days are numbered. The days of suppression and slavery are over. Now everybody wants to live in decency and in democracy. We must support the Christian West in supporting new dawn on the horizon of Arab World first and elsewhere afterwards.
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.
March 20, 2011
MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION: A BOON OR BANE?
Medium of instruction: a boon or bane
Dr. Pratap Naik, S.J.
Director
Thomas Stephens Konknni Kendr
Alto Porvorim, Goa – 403 521
Mother tongue is a misleading term. As a linguist, I question this term because what will be the mother tongue of a child who has lost its mother or parents at the babyhood. Even if one accepts the validity of the term mother tongue, it cannot be the norm for medium of instruction at the primary school. In an ideal situation if the dominant language spoken at home or in the neighbourhood is used as the medium of instruction, the child will easily understand the subjects taught and its academic growth will attain the desirable level. Besides the medium of instruction, the quality of textbooks, teaching methods and the competence of teachers are also equally important for the child’s academic growth. In most of the countries of the world the medium of instruction is their dominant language. In India we do not have a single language which is accepted by all as the language of education. English is the only language which unites the Indians at the level of education. In Goa till 1991 in a number of schools the medium of instruction in primary schools was English or Marathi. Konknni as a medium of instruction was limited to 2 schools in South Goa. The spoken Konknni unites the locals but written Konknni divides. Konknni written in Devanagari script has done more harm to locals and Konknni culture compared to Marathi. Konknni written in Devanagari is nobody’s baby. It is artificially kept alive by the government grants to please a handful of protagonists. The textbooks written in Konknni are filled with innumerable grave errors of all types. It is nobody’s concern to rectify them. Those managements who opted for Konknni medium have done so not because of their conviction but to avail grants from the education department. Teachers are not sufficiently equipped to teach in Konknni medium. The rich and those who can afford, send their children to unaided English medium primary schools and later on shift to aided schools. In this visionless and chaotic atmosphere the children who attend the Konknni medium schools have become the voiceless and helpless victims. It is a great injustice done to them. All of us are responsible for this crime. Hence it is our duty to rectify the past blunder and to obtain justice to our children by providing them free English medium education at the primary level. I say this with full conviction after working for Konknni as a researcher and teacher in Goa for 25 years. Our love for Konknni should not make us blind for the future of our children.
In Goa, Konknni is needed only to maintain the cultural identity of the people. Let Konknni be the language of our heart, namely household language, language in the domains of social, cultural, religious and other related fields. In Goa, let English be the language of our mind and intellect, namely education at all levels, administration and intellectual growth and to earn our daily bread. All over India English is gaining momentum as the medium of instruction at the primary level. In the neighbouring districts of Sindhudurg, Belgaum, Dharwad, and Uttar Kannada, even in the villages English medium schools exist and their demand is increasing day by day. Primary education in English in Goa will be a boon for all irrespective of their home language, religion, region and caste. Let our parents, managements and the education department do not fall as a prey to the hypocritical double standard talk of pseudo educationists, mother tongue protagonists and politicians. The future of Goa and our people lies in English medium education, which is a boon to our children.
Dr. Pratap Naik, S.J.
Director
Thomas Stephens Konknni Kendr
Alto Porvorim, Goa – 403 521
Mother tongue is a misleading term. As a linguist, I question this term because what will be the mother tongue of a child who has lost its mother or parents at the babyhood. Even if one accepts the validity of the term mother tongue, it cannot be the norm for medium of instruction at the primary school. In an ideal situation if the dominant language spoken at home or in the neighbourhood is used as the medium of instruction, the child will easily understand the subjects taught and its academic growth will attain the desirable level. Besides the medium of instruction, the quality of textbooks, teaching methods and the competence of teachers are also equally important for the child’s academic growth. In most of the countries of the world the medium of instruction is their dominant language. In India we do not have a single language which is accepted by all as the language of education. English is the only language which unites the Indians at the level of education. In Goa till 1991 in a number of schools the medium of instruction in primary schools was English or Marathi. Konknni as a medium of instruction was limited to 2 schools in South Goa. The spoken Konknni unites the locals but written Konknni divides. Konknni written in Devanagari script has done more harm to locals and Konknni culture compared to Marathi. Konknni written in Devanagari is nobody’s baby. It is artificially kept alive by the government grants to please a handful of protagonists. The textbooks written in Konknni are filled with innumerable grave errors of all types. It is nobody’s concern to rectify them. Those managements who opted for Konknni medium have done so not because of their conviction but to avail grants from the education department. Teachers are not sufficiently equipped to teach in Konknni medium. The rich and those who can afford, send their children to unaided English medium primary schools and later on shift to aided schools. In this visionless and chaotic atmosphere the children who attend the Konknni medium schools have become the voiceless and helpless victims. It is a great injustice done to them. All of us are responsible for this crime. Hence it is our duty to rectify the past blunder and to obtain justice to our children by providing them free English medium education at the primary level. I say this with full conviction after working for Konknni as a researcher and teacher in Goa for 25 years. Our love for Konknni should not make us blind for the future of our children.
In Goa, Konknni is needed only to maintain the cultural identity of the people. Let Konknni be the language of our heart, namely household language, language in the domains of social, cultural, religious and other related fields. In Goa, let English be the language of our mind and intellect, namely education at all levels, administration and intellectual growth and to earn our daily bread. All over India English is gaining momentum as the medium of instruction at the primary level. In the neighbouring districts of Sindhudurg, Belgaum, Dharwad, and Uttar Kannada, even in the villages English medium schools exist and their demand is increasing day by day. Primary education in English in Goa will be a boon for all irrespective of their home language, religion, region and caste. Let our parents, managements and the education department do not fall as a prey to the hypocritical double standard talk of pseudo educationists, mother tongue protagonists and politicians. The future of Goa and our people lies in English medium education, which is a boon to our children.
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