Team Goemkarponn
Panaji: Chief Minister Dr. Pramod Sawant reaffirmed the state government’s commitment to implementing the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, with a key focus on rationalising school hours and reducing academic burden on students.
Speaking in the Assembly, Sawant clarified that the 1,200-hour annual requirement under NEP refers to learning hours, not strictly classroom teaching. “The focus is on joyful and stress-free learning, not rote academics. We are reworking school schedules to align with this philosophy,” he said.
Sawant said work on upgrading infrastructure in government schools is already underway. In the case of aided institutions, directions have been issued to managements, and the government may consider offering grants for infrastructure maintenance in the future. The first set of NEP-aligned textbooks for Class IX is expected to be rolled out from the next academic year.
The Chief Minister also took aim at what he called political doublespeak, pointing out that many MLAs publicly demand Konkani and Marathi medium government primary schools but send their own children to English-medium institutions. “We are ready to start Konkani (Devanagari script) medium schools without shutting down existing Marathi schools, but parents need to be willing,” he stated.
Responding to Goa Forward MLA Vijai Sardesai, who pointed out that eight talukas still have no government primary school with Konkani as the medium of instruction, Sawant said, “We are ready to set them up wherever there is genuine demand.” Sardesai also noted that three talukas lack even grant-in-aid schools, calling it a failure in equitable language education access.
On the contentious language issue under NEP, the Chief Minister clarified that the Task Force recommended the Romi script in the context of the Roman alphabet (A, B, C) and not specifically Romi Konkani. “The Romi script is already in use alongside Devanagari,” he added.
As the NEP implementation rolls forward, the government appears to be balancing infrastructure upgrades, curriculum reform, and language inclusion—though concerns remain over execution timelines and community buy-in.
