GOA'S EDUCATION IN TURMOIL by Adv. Aires Rodrigues, Ribandar

With Goa already embroiled in the medium of instruction controversory, the schools now have to also deal with the skewed circular directing that all students till std 8th be compulsorily passed. The educational scenario in the State is set for turmoil.
Tests and exams are the only way to find out if the students have really studied. It ensures that the students do take their studies seriously and achieve a level of learning. Periodic tests and exams have become integral to the learning process. These year-end or term-end written examinations can be done away only if there is a continuous evaluation by the teacher throughout the year with defined academic guidelines.
But there can never be an automatic promotion from one class to another. Education will lose its very meaning and the entire process will soon get degenerated. Many students themselves will force the teacher to teach nothing. Instead of being in the classroom students will be seen hanging out at the cinema theatres, cafes and the food courts.
Our Education Minister does not know the value of education. Even though he could afford it he chose to drop out after passing just 7th Std. The children of Goa deserve something better. Let the educated and the educationists secure the interests of the students. Our children should at least be taught to differentiate between a Rupee, Dollar and Dinar. Otherwise one day they could all get stranded at airports. They may not be that fortunate to be bailed out.

17 comments:

Perdro Lopes said...

That a child should not fail up to the VII standard is the best the Goa government has brought up. But this should be properly implemented, if properly implemented we in Goa will be having at the least 60 -70 % bright students every year in the next 10 -. 20 yrs.
Switzerland too has the same system, but here they have up to the IX standard. No one repeats, every child is pushed to the next class.
How it works, from the 1st  class to the IX class, the classes are divided into 3 Categories, A, B & C, The A class you have the brighter students, in the B class you have the less brighter students and so on. The competition is heavy  as all want to be in the A class, after the IX class if a student want to have a trainee post in IT, or Architecture the student has to be in a "A" Class.
The system which I had in my prior days in Bombay for me were the worst, my thinking powers were not utilised as I had to by heart all the time to pass my exams, I couldn't think as only exams were of importance, life in the long run had no meaning, the brain develops only when one has the urge or wants to learn something without stress.
If this system is made mandatory in Goa, then the child will have more time to develop, in the digital world the child comes across a world which is 3 dimensional.
In the past the child learns to fail and fights to pass without understanding the concept of life, the future system will show the road to success, man is a rational being, he always want to learn when the opportunity is given.
We in Invader India or in our mother Goa have no research centres as the system of learning was a failure, the future system will surely open the doors to research centres as there will be time for the child to think , to develop the brain which is a very powerful instrument of life.
 

Dr. Ferdinando said...

Makes very interresting reading! It beats child psychology and even normal rationality.
It is said : "Proverbs are short sayings drawn from long experience"; and the proverb "Spare the rod and spoil the child." is one of the many that have been erased by modern so called "Developed' system of education.
Does a puppy grow into a good dog if left loose on its own? Or need it be trained?
May I ask Mr. Lopes, how do the teachers conclude which student is brighter to place them in categories you mention? Is it not by some tests/exams? Or is it according to the whims and fancy or political clout as will be the case in Goa?
75% of a child's brain is developed by the age of 6 years, and the remaining 25% will slowly develop by adulthood i.e.by 18 - 20 yrs. Whatever deficiencies that have crept in during the early developmental phase either due to nutrition, diseases or environmental which includes false methods of education, are almost impossible to be erased or substituted at a later stage.
You do not need reserch to be done in Goa. Correct interpretation of research done anywhere in the world is the normal way of life. What you seem to be stating is to experiment the system in Goa at the cost of our children or next generation; which is utter foolishness.

Dalia said...

 @Pedro, with due respect, allow me to disagree with you. Parts of Europe may have a "no exams" system but they have something else to develop the child. We, either in Goa or the whole of India cannot be a bit closer to the infrastructure available to educate the child. The discipline and development of an average Indian is far behind the Europeans in many ways. Discipline comes first and then education. Take the simple example of Japan in the worst crisis; they did not break the rules. Not because they were rules but as a moral duty and obligation.

Just because other parts of the World have got such a system we cannot simply copy and paste it for our society. In Europe and elsewhere around the World, children are taken on educational excursions to teach things in factual ways, in Goa we can take them to Bondla Zoo and show them the dying animals trapped in shanty cages? Do they know why the animals are kept in such a disgrace? The amount of money that was sanctioned to their welfare reaches to them at just 25% of the sanctioned amount as the rest 75% goes down to drain between the Porvorim Zoo of the MLA's and Bondla Zoo.
 
Conclusion: If the no fail system becomes a reality, our children will lose the sense of responsibility at young age, become lazy, loss of discipline and improvement of the mind and other adverse affects as they'll know that none will fail them. At least, at the end when they drop out at STD VIII and not able to cope with the pressure of IX , they can boast that they are more educated than Churchill, Madkaikar, Mickey, Joaquim and the present education minister Monserrate. What a disgrace?

N.Fernandes-London said...

There is a very interesting debate going on here. I would like to commend Pedro Lopes, Dr. Ferdinando and Dalia for their contributions.Their input and views are thought provoking.
I am sure there will be more contibutions from others too.  
I personally have not paid much thought to this subject / topic.I am just relating from a personal experience
However I too feel that a set standard & test must be applied to acheivement /promotion.
This method applies to all disciplines of life.
Everything these days is based on a Standard.Even in production or construction, if a product does not meet required standards , it does not go futher till it meets the set requirements. This then involves further research until the product is perfected or acceptable, either for sale or consumption.
I appreciate humans are different , but I think tests have been applied since time immemorial.If one fails them , one has to re-take them till they master or pass it.

In reality and, as I recollect from my school days , there were hardly any students that were made to repeat the Class year  .At the most I encountered perhaps one student that was left to repeat the class for failing in more than 4 basic subjects.Many of these were from poor finiancial backgrounds & from families that were uneducated .(very much like current day Goan Politicians).
So If there are only one or 2 failures per class school year, then my opinion is to promote these students lagging behind and hope they will better themselves in the next School year, with encouragement from their classmates.
I think failing in one or 2 core subjects is fine.However if a student fails in more that 4-5 core subjects, then they must be held back and not promoted.

Joaquim Correia Afonso said...

Now all those mentioned by Dalia, supposedly Std VII failed, can be declared Std VIII passed. A peon has to pass Std VIII in order to get the job. A Std VII failed can become not only the peon's boss, but even of the Head of Department and of the Government Secretary, an IAS Officer!

Anand Desai Mopa said...

@ Dalia you have a valid point here so does Pedro. My nephew was born and brought up in Europe and was miles ahead of his cousins born and brought up in Goa as a Book worm. In the nephews abroad school they have workshops in various technical fields, which prepares them for the future and the school drop out rate is very low. What facilities does Goa have for not so bright students? The only thing we have in Goa is illiterate elected to run our education system.

Salvador Seraulim said...

Goan literacy rate is the highest and let is keep it that way. At his moment in time Goan government is not in a position to make an educated decision for us, as they themselves are illiterate.

Perdro Lopes said...

 Dear Dalia & Dr. Ferdinando
I agree  to what you both quote. We in Invader India are used to this system of exams, What I see in India, mainly Bombay is the city is the way the Britisher's left it some 60 yr's ago, In India there is still this TAXI (fiat) which ran for a record of 60 yr's, The trains are nearly the same which also ran and running for a record of 60 yrs, so are the busses and the bullock cart and the Man cart to transport goods from one place to the other.
The main reason why I see that  there has been no improvement is due to the fact that the brain of a child is not developed. It is dormant  to do the same thing again and again. As an Adult he is then used to the same thing again and again. In the 60's the SSC had XI standard, in the 70's it changed to X standards.

I completed my studies in an English Medium school run by the missionaries (Church), in my school days I had this Marathi and Hindi, which I studied from the 3rd Standard to the X standard. I'd exams, and had to pass this Marathi and Hindi, I passed but I couldn't and can't speak this language even today, even though I wasted a lot of my precious time watching Hindi movies as a child. On the other hand I spoke Konkani at home  with my parents, and only with my parents. I'm very fluent in Konkani, and believe me I've not given no Oral exams in Konkani till this day. But still I'm very good at Konkani, the Konkani where no exams were needed. (only speaking to my daddy and mummy, among my sisters and brothers we spoke in English).
As I mentioned before, one just can't have a system with easy ride from the 1st to the VII standard, this should be properly implemented, Like I wrote some thing like A, B, C where the clever children are put in A and so on, This is done my Project work and exams for sure. The child will automatically study hard with out pressure as no child will like to be demoted to B, this is what happens in Switzerland.
 
A child gets a computer and masters it, the modern play stations are very complicating, so are the modern Mobiles, the child masters it without exams. 

In Goa the internet is very cheap, just 250 INr's a month at BSNL, many can't still afford it in Goa specially our Catholics, but this same people pay more to have cable TV. When in Goa I see some one can't afford it I pay for their Internet, but it's only possible if they have a phone line at home, many have only mobiles, such families have no possibilities to have access to Internet.
 
One can progress more with the internet then at school, a child can find all answers in "YouTube" be it Mathematic, Biology, Chemistry  and so  on. for e.g, if I want to dissect a frog I can watch it at "you tube"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJDrqRWEzn0

There are many things that a child can learn from the internet, how many of us would be ready to fight with ignorant parents that a computer + Internet at all homes should be mandatory, no we quarrel saying exams are the answer to success.

I was told by my dad and this I tell my children, go to play after you have done your school work, the child knows nobody is stopping him from playing, the child concentrates in his studies, the same goes to the glass is half full and not half empty.

Excerpts from Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20ew5848Z8E

I cried watching this movie, we've a lot to learn from this movie. No child is Dum, there are reasons why a child becomes Dum. This is a real story of a DUM Student ends up being the best surgeon in the world. (This is no Hindi Movie Bullshit)

What ever the outcome I'm proud to see and read healthy discussion over here. The future of our children is at stake, If we don't stand up who will?

Mog assundi ani Dev borrem korrung.

Perdro Lopes said...

Sir, are you a Medical doctor or a Academic doctor? I need to know for my  further debate with you.

Papa Razi said...

Oh Dalia, is illiterate Ravi Naik giving you something not to write his name in the "Illiterate Ministr's Column" or you missed it? You left the worst fellow out of mention in your comment. He is a drug dealer, corrupt and protector of criminals. How about Joking Alemao? Same. Wa, we have a ministry of "Hinjdas" in Goa being kamat the Lead Hinjda of all.

Anonymous the VIII said...

Someone becomes "DUM" after watching "DUM MARO DUM" (;-)

Perdro Lopes said...

 You are very right, watching Hindi movies can make you DUM, don't forget people living in Invader India are only subjected to this Bullshit, so too in Goa, I'm glad I got away from it.

Anonymous the VIII said...

Some Medical doctors are also  Academic doctors. Those teaching or doing research in medical colleges are Academic doctors.  Those practicing and treating patients are Clinical doctors.

Archangeladesouza said...

Viewing all your comments, we are in fighting within ourselves and there are others who benefit out of this.
Can all goans boycott the next election????????????????unless all the ministers prove themselves worthy of themselves to the Goan communities.I am the first to say i will not cast my valuable vote.this will be one step forward>>>

Alcantara said...

Our Education Minister does not know the value of education? He dropped out after passing Std VII because he knows that education has no value. Passing Std VIII you can become a peon. Passing Std VII you can become a minister and also know the difference between rupee, dollar and dinar. 

Papa Razi said...

Call or SMS Savio Lopes on his mobile and register your protest. His number is 0091-9890073545. Why is the venue moved to Delhi? The parents are in Goa and Savio will fill his bags in Delhi with a promise of Congress ticket in the future or some important post and come back with happiness. Is he another Churchill in the making? 

N.Fernandes-London said...

Hi Alcantara: Based on your evaluation of the uneducated Education Minister, I can also  assure you, his son Rohit and the other one too will not fare any better.
One has already graduated to a Child rapist or raping young girls.
I doubt, like his Father, Rohit will be able to apply his education  (which must have been purchased) anywhere.
There is a saying"you shouldnt judge a book by its cover". However in the case of Rohit, the 1st chapter has already been written ,read and understood.we await Chapter 2
  

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