Nelson Mandela said, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, those words goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.’’
International Mother Language Day was first proclaimed by UNESCO and later adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2000. Multilingual education policies, highlighted in the 2024 theme, 'Multilingual education – a pillar of learning and intergenerational learning', are crucial for inclusive education and the preservation of indigenous languages. By starting education in the learner's mother tongue and gradually introducing other languages, barriers between home and school are bridged, facilitating effective learning.
Understanding the need for Konkani education from a young age, Konkani Bhasha Mandal has been working on different educational tools to attract young minds. President of Konkani Bhasha Mandal, Anwesha Singbal says, "The Education department releases statistics every year which certainly shows an incredible increase in number of students opting for Konkani. From selecting Konkani as a third language to completing their master's
in Konkani, the post graduation course has full
seats, both in Goa University and at Government College, Quepem.
Our biggest happiness is to see that even at the primary level children want to learn Konkani. We have been making efforts in taking Konkani to almost every taluka in Goa and many English and Marathi teachers are also buying literature and educational products for students in Konkani. We recently organised a workshop which was attended by nearly 400 teachers from across Goa and they were introduced to short videos, nursery rhymes in Konkani and other material that is available on YouTube, which has been creates by Konkani Bhasha Mandal."
The post graduation degree was introduced at Government College, Quepem in 2018. Sushant Naik, coordinator of the course informs that Part 1 has 11 students while Part 2 has 18 students. "The students are confident with the language and some students have been authored and published Konkani books. Two of the students include Deepraj Satardekar and Shripad Prabhudesai. The students attend Konkani programmes in different colleges and are exposed to film appreciation, translations and script writing and have been produced Konkani scripts. Though based in the South of Goa, we receive students from all over Goa including Pernem, Sanquelim and Mapusa," says Sushant.
From St Xavier’s College, Mapusa to Rosary College of Commerce and Arts, Navelim, Assistant professor, Fr Roman Rodrigues, has been encouraging students to go beyond the subscribed syllabus and widen their scope in the language. He recently coordinated a one day national seminar on the topic ‘Vers Lokgitam: Konknnichi Girest Sonskruti' organised by the Department of Konkani of Rosary College of Commerce and Arts, Navelim.
"There are many students who are not aware about the rich history and heritage of Konkani. They opt for the language as they have grown up talking the mother tongue, Konkani and have scored well in their schools and higher secondary level. Through the course in college, especially the six units in the Honors class, they learn about the language, it's history and the Konkani stalwarts that fought for it," says Fr Roman.
Once the students fall in love with Konkani, they have written novels and even scripts for khell tiatr competitions besides even acting in Khell tiatrs and commercial tiatrs. "In the Second Year, the students have a paper on tiatr as well as tiatr stalwarts," says Fr Roman, who scripted the tiatr for the college that won the second place at Tiatr Academy of
Goa (TAG)’s third All Goa inter-collegiate/HSS
tiatr competition.
Dr Prakash S Parienkar is the vice dean (Research) in the discipline of Konkani at the Goa University. He is also the recipient of this year’s Sahitya Akademi Award for his story collection 'Varsal' in Konkani and will be receiving the award on March 12, 2024 at New Delhi. With such an illustrious writer guiding the students, they have to be motivated to shine in the language. “The number of students pursuing their Master’s in Konkani has certainly increased over the years. Since the inception of Konkani at Goa University in 1987, the seats have increased from 25 seats to now 65 seats. The post-graduation course shows the students have been studying the subject right from the school level and then at the college level. The students are encouraged towards creative writing and we also offer skill- based papers including courses like film production and script writing. For the research department, Goa University has made it compulsory to present a dissertation in the fourth semester on any topic. They have to go on field to research for it. Students also have to submit different assignments which requires them to find out information like folk songs and dances. The future for Konkani is bright," says Dr Prakash.
The recently concluded Tiatr Academy of Goa (TAG)’s third All Goa inter-collegiate/HSS tiatr competition which was held in September 2023, had eight institutions across the state participating in the event. At the first inter-collegiate competition, there were only three participants, followed by five institutions participating in the second year. The competition for 2023-24 was won by the tiatr ‘Girann’ presented by St Xavier’s College, Mapusa.
The script was written by Fr Luis Gomes, assistant professor, Department of Konkani, St Xavier’s College, Mapusa, and the College had won the competition for the first edition and won the third place at the second edition.
Fr Luis Gomes, who has been a faculty member at St Xavier's College for nine years, says, "The winning team comprised of 40 students from across different classes and different streams. The college organises different programmes in Konkani throughout the year. We have 40 students in Third Year Bachelor of Arts and 16 Honor students this year. The number is increasing every year. We have 28 papers floated every year and the third year students have subjects like grammatics and linguistic studies, letter writing and novel and short story writing."
To celebrate International Mother Language Day, the college will organize a day-long seminar today with poems and short story recitation. "Faculty members from different colleges and educational institutes will present programmes in Konkani.
The seminar is on 'Trends of Konkani Literature," informs Fr Luis. It is not only the language that connects one to one’s land, culture and people, it is more importantly, the language of one’s heart - the one she/he thinks in, speaks in and dreams in.