By Rajan Narayan

AND a few stray thoughts for yet another Saturday. For a Saturday following the week with the obstinate stand of Education Minister Pramod Sawant on starting the academic year for classes 7th to 10th and 12th standards in the second week of April. For a Saturday following the week we see a continuing decline in the national ranking of Goa University. For a Saturday following the week what the status of Hindi is in the southern states. For a Saturday following the week when Goa became such a hot real estate destination that even international firms are investing in land in Goa.

OBSTINATE CM
AND a few stray thoughts on the obstinate stand of Education Minister Pramod Sawant to start the academic year for primary classes 7th to 10th and 12th standards in the second week of April. Advocate General Devidas Pangam told the high court that there day as the change in the rules had not been notified under section 29 of the Goa School Education Act.
It would appear that the government has partially responded to the strong protest by parents and teachers. Students from classes 1 to 4 will not be affected as the academic year for them will be in June as in the past. However, the government seems to be adamant over reducing the vacation for students between 7th and 12 standards. The claim of the Education department is that the syllabus under the new economic policies can only be completed if the academic year begins in April instead of in June.
At present students from the 1st to the 10th standards enjoy a vacation of two to three months from March to June. This happen to be the hottest month in the year as school starts only when the monsoon set in and temperatures come down. The state government claims that it has extended the dates for objections to the change of rules till March 27, 2025. The advocate general also admitted that 400 objections had been received. Parents have also announced that they will launch a major agitation after the ongoing board exams are over.
However, the Education department is unlikely to compromise on its decision to reopen classes for students in the 7TH to 10th standard in the second week of April. The summer vacation period will be limited to one month for secondary and higher-secondary students. It is also proposed to reduce the number of days for vacation for Ganesh and Christmas. There has been a demand from senior corporate figures that the L&T chairman NS Subramanyam and the Infosys chairman Narayan Murthy for the 90-day week for employees.
The government of Goa seems to believe that hard labour should start at the school level itself. Under the new scheme in the name of the New Economic Policy, school hours from the 7th standard onwards it will be 7 hours which might extend to 8 hours if there are special classes for weak students.
Among the objections of parents is fear for the security of the children. The security staff in schools are employed on a contract basis for only nine months in a year. Most of them are migrant labourers who go back to their hometowns during school vacations. They may not be available in April and this will compromise the safety of school children.
And even more serious matter for concern is that the contract teachers employed by the school are also hired only for nine months in a year. Their services may not be available if the school term is extended to 11 months in a year.

GOA UNIVERSITY FALL
AND a few stray thoughts on the continuing decline in the national ranking of Goa University. Education Minister Pramod Sawant admitted in the ongoing assembly session that the national ranking of Goa University has slipped in the 151-200 band. In the 2022 and 2023 rankings, Goa University figured among the top 150 universities.
The education minister has attributed the fall in the quality of Goa University to the retirement of senior professionals and their replacement by younger professionals. The CM claims that many of the Goa University faculty members are new and require time to gain the experience of senior teachers. The ground reality is that Goa University has been bending the rules to appoint even candidates without a PhD as full-time faculty. Many departments are functioning without the head of the department.
Many of the younger teaching staff are doing their PhD and are not eligible to be guides for post-graduate students. What is worse is that the majority of students doing their PhD are part-time students. More than 40% of the faculty positions remain vacant for lack of suitable candidates. The insistence of the government on domicile status is preventing qualified teachers from outside the state from being selected. Forget about teachers, there has been a sharp fall in a number of students enrolling for post-graduate courses. Except for the master of computers and the financial studies course, there are no job opportunities for those who complete their masters from Goa University.
Not surprisingly very few research papers have been published by the faculty of Goa University. Universities are considered institutions of higher learning and are expected to encourage research. The university does not have any provision for publishing the dissertations of even the outstanding research scholars.
I recall coming across many excellent research projects that remain unknown due to lack of publicity. The chief minister also admitted that the university does not have a dedicated placement cell to enable successful post-graduates to get good jobs. The campus itself is in a bad state and needs to be repaired and maintained. It may be recalled that an assistant professor was accused of stealing and leaking chemistry papers for the benefit of his girlfriend.

HINDI FEARS
AND a few stray thoughts on the status of Hindi in our southern states. In Tamil Nadu, less than 1% of the population speaks Hindi with 16% percent opting for English as the second language after mother tongue. In Kerala and Karnataka, 2% and 4.2% accept Hindi as the second language as against 18.9 % and 8% opting for English as the second language. In Andhra Pradesh, 5.4% favour Hindi against 9.9% preferring English. By enlargement in the southern states, the local languages Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu are not only the official language in the state but the medium of instruction at least at the primary level.
In many of the southern states, the regional language is compulsory right up to the 10th standard. While studying in Bengaluru I had to pass my Kannada exam when I was in the 10th standard equal to SSC. The claim is that 43.6% of the population speak Hindi. However, the Hindi spoken in Uttar Pradesh is very different from Hindi spoken in Bihar.
Of the southern languages, 6.7% of eight crore people speak Telugu. Tamil is spoken by seven crore people, Kannada by four crore. Hindi is opposed not only by the southern states but also by the people of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Odisha and West Bengal. Indeed, Hindi is the mother tongue of only three states in the country, namely Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. But even in this states, there may be 20 different dialects.
Within Bihar there are many different variations like Bhojpuri, Maithili, Khadibori, etc. While spending three months in Bihar some 50 years ago doing famine time relief work I discovered different speaking of Hindi. When I was working in a small village near Bodhgaya, the city where Lord Buddha got enlightenment, I discovered the different nuances of Hindi.
A villager came to me and said “Balu had fallen into `indra.’” I knew that indra is used to describe a well. I concluded a bear had fallen in the well. But “balu” in local language means sand. There are very few states in the country that accept Hindi as the mother tongue. Indeed, 96% of Indians are multi-lingual and can speak more than one language.
A study of the conflict between Hindi and Tamil highlights the conflict between Konkani and Marathi which are the most popular languages in Goa. However, in addition to Konkani and Marathi, there are a lot of people who speak Hindi, Konkani and Urdu in Goa. It is also been revealed that as many as 13 crore Indians speak English as a second or third language. So much so that English is a declared national language and more acceptable in all parts of the country than Hindi.

FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN REAL ESTATE
AND a few stray thoughts on Goa becoming such a hot real estate destination that even international firms are investing in land in Goa. The famous auction house Sotheby’s of London released an advertisement in the local newspapers seeking 10,000 sq meters of settlement land in the coastal villages of south Goa.
Sotheby’s is among the largest art auction houses in the world. Traditionally its main business has been trading in art. Indeed, many Indian painters including Goan painters like Newton Souza and Gaitonde have sold or auctioned with Southby. Their paintings are worth in crores through Sotheby’s.
In recent years Sotheby has diversified into a real estate. It has heavily invested in Goa and owns several large properties, particularly in south Goa. Some time ago it had advertised large properties around the Palolem beach down south Goa for sale. Goa is now attracted not only builders from Delhi and Mumbai but even builders from abroad like Sotheby’s from London.
The international agencies are only interested in premium properties for offering super luxury second homes in Goa. Home stays have become so popular in Goa that they are considered an alternative to expensive five-star hotel stays. Normally, even Goan investors in property invite leading hotel chains like the Taj Group to manage and market their property. The Taj Group has invested in something like a 100 villas and farm houses for Homestay accommodation at rates ranging from Rs30,000 to Rs3 lakh per day. These Homestay accommodation comes equipped with staff much else to ensure a most comfortable stay in Goa with utter privacy provided. Of course, for those who can afford it.