From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji

Panaji, May 3: A group of Congress legislators in Goa today decided to mount pressure on its party organisation to get English language included as Medium of Instruction (MOI)  in the state.

In all 12 out of total 20 legislators, on Monday, met at the official residence of State Public Works department minister Churchill Alemao and decided to petition Congress General Secretary Jagmeet Brar, who is also Goa desk incharge, on the issue.

Brar will be in Goa today on his official visit in which he will sort out various organisational matters.

Alemao claimed that the parents were demanding English as MOI in the elementary education. “We are going by the demands of the parents who want that English should also be considered as medium of instruction along with Konkani and Marathi,” he said.

Incidently, state education minister Atanasio Monserrate, who had supported Konkani and Marathi as Medium of Instruction in the state legislative assembly, was also present for the meeting.

“I stick to my stand taken on the floor of the house,” Monserratte told reporters emerging from the meeting.

Alemao claimed that `chief minister Digambar Kamat himself supports English as MOI and will pronounce his stand within two days.’

He said that the congress MLAs will meet Brar on Tuesday with the petition expressing their support for English.

The MOI issue has raised its head in the state in the wake of Right to Education (RTE) Act implementation from the forthcoming academic year.

While a section of parents are demanding English as MOI, several educationalists gathered under banner of Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Mandal (BBSM) have said that Konkani and Marathi or any Indian language should be MOI.