ONLY 9% STUDENTS IN KONKANI MEDIUM Nobody wants Hindi in amche Goye!

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ONLY 9% STUDENTS IN KONKANI MEDIUM Nobody wants Hindi in amche Goye!

AND a few stray thoughts for yet another Saturday. For the Saturday following the week when it was confirmed that making Konkani in the Devanagari script the medium of instruction in schools was a big mistake. For a Saturday following the week when 16 and 17-year-olds in Goa are still being treated like infants. For the Saturday following the week when the repeat examination is being held for NEET on Sunday, June 21, 2026. For the Saturday following the week when, ironically, the majority of the top football players participating in the World Cup being hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico are migrants.

KONKANI BLUES
AND a few stray thoughts on what is being confirmed, is that making Konkani in Devanagiri script the medium of instruction in schools was a big mistake. School enrolment figures revealed that only 9% of the students at the primary level study in Konkani Devanagiri medium primary schools. This is not because Goans do not love Konkani.
The problem is that nobody is comfortable with Konkani in the Devanagiri script. It may be recalled that Diocesan English-medium primary schools were compelled by Sashikala Kakodkar to switch to the Devanagiri Konkani medium. Subsequently, this decision was reversed by Manohar Parrikar who had reached out to the Catholic minority community.
School enrollment figures reveal that almost 60% of students at the primary level attend English-medium schools. Marathi is holding its own and with great deal of support from the Pramod Sawant government even now almost 30% of the students continue to attend Marathi medium primary schools.
As much as 8% of students in Goa attend Urdu, Kannada and even Malayalam primary schools. As in the case of many southern states, Goan parents show no inclination to send their children to Hindi-medium primary schools. There are barely one or two Hindi-medium primary schools in Goa. Goa does not seems to be following the three language formula.
Till recently Goan students even at the higher secondary levels studying in English-medium opted for Konkani as the second language and a foreign language as the third language. The greatest harm to Konkani has been done due to the conspiracy between Udhay Bhembre and Sashikala Kakodkar to limit Konkani -medium schools to the Devanagiri script.

TEENS TREATED LIKE INFANTS!
AND a few stray thoughts on 16- and 17-year-olds in Goa still being treated like infants. I am increasingly shocked by parents of children, or rather young adults in the 10TH and 12th standards, accompanying their children for their exams. Taking their teenage children for coaching classes. The frenzy becomes greater during competitive exams. All children of ambitious parents are forced to opt for a career in medicine or engineering. A career in medicine or engineering entails appearing for the NEET for doctors and the IITGE test for engineering students.
The biggest beneficiaries are the coaching classes. The poor young children are forced into coaching classes for the entrance exam after completing their 12th standard exam. The pressure starts when they are in the 8th or the 9th standard. The pressure in relentless. All the hobbies are put on hold. Young sportsman have to abandon their sporting passions. The obsession is with first passing the 10th and then the 12th, and then of course comes NEET and IIT.
The tragedy is that you cannot even get into a government medical college unless you score 90% of amount in NEET. I fail to understand how young adults get 100%, which means 720 out of 720 in the NEET exams. I don’t remember anyone dropping me off at school from the 5th standard onwards. I don’t remember parents becoming neurotic when I sat for my 10th and 12th standard exams. I presume when you have money, you want to buy the best, which includes being willing to pay bribes to paper setters to get the question papers in advance, as happened in NEET.

NEET ON SUNDAY
AND a few stray thoughts on the repeat examination being held for NEET on Sunday, June 21, 2026. The students are apparently still having difficulties with the national testing authorities portal. They are now able to access their admit cards online. Not surprisingly, the CBSE online verification portal is also not functioning properly. The repeat NEET exam is supposed to be held under strict security. The government claims that all the officials involved have been locked up and kept in a secret destination. Security is very tight in the printing press where the papers are being readied. It would not be surprising if the papers are being printed in the currency printing press in Nasik. The repeat test was announced, there were rumors that Air Force planes would deliver the papers to various centers. The joke going around is that it would be safer to send them by submarines. The National Security Guards employed by Narendra Modi could be asked to supervise examination centers. The ground is that no accountability is fixed for the NEET paper leak.
Despite demands from the National Cockroach Party, the Union Health Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, has yet to be sacked. Even the director general of the National Testing Authority, who is the IAAS officer, has not been removed. The only people who have been victimized are the paper setters. Unless accountability is fixed, there will be no faith in the examination process. The question is what happens to students who get low marks in NEET and cannot get admission even to Homeopathy and Ayurveda colleges. Will they still get admission to degree colleges in Goa?

KARNATAKA AND RSS
AND a few stray thoughts on the showdown between the Karnataka government and the RSS. Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Karge, has reportedly written to the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, to register itself under the relevant section of the law. The RSS has also been asked to disclose its finances and sources of funding. The RSS has to clarify its tax status. Minister Karge has threatened to shut down the RSS in Karnataka if it does not follow the rules. RSS chief Bhagwat has retorted that Hinduism does not require registration. Implying that the RSS is the custodian of Hinduism. RSS, which promotes Hindutva and hatred for Muslims, is closely associated with the BJP. In fact, before becoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a senior pracharak of the RSS. Incidentally, Mohan Bhagwat recently insisted that all Christians in the country were also Hindus. The Catholic Church quickly disagreed saying that Christian were proud Indians but not Hindus.

WORLD CUP SPONSORS
AND a last stray thought on what is ironically, players participating in the World Cup, being hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, are migrants. The World Cup is being held in the United States at a time when Trump has started a war against migrants. To the extent that migrants born in the United States will no longer get automatic citizenship.
Interestingly, the player who scored the crucial goal for the United States is Yunus Musah, who is a Muslim born to parents from Ghana in Africa and raised in England. Antonee Robinson, the American goalkeeper, is of African descent. This is true of all the superstars in the World Cup.
Kylian Mbappé, the younger superstar of France, has Algerian roots. Ousmane Dembele is originally from Mauritius. The star player of England, Bukayo Saka, has Nigerian roots. The top player of Belgium, Romelu, was born in the Congo in Africa. India may not have qualified for the World Cup, but there are many players with Goan origins. Among them is a young Uruguayan World Cup player whose parents are Goan. There is also Carlos Kordero, a major football administrator who is the president of the American Football Federation. His parents are from Saligao.
The biggest shock in the ongoing World Cup is that Cape Verde, a small island country with a population of just five lakh, not only qualified for the World Cup but held champion Spain to a draw in their first match in the World Cup.