Pics: Meryick D'Silva
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (MD)

Mangalore, Sep 2: "The Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Academy is ready to start Konkani in pre-university colleges and has also initiated work to set up a separate Konkani study chair in Mangalore University," said Roy Castelino, president of Karnataka Konkani Sahithya Academy.

He was addressing Konkani teachers in a programme organized by the Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Academy and Lion’s Club, Mangalore to celebrate Konkani Teacher’s day. The programme was held at Lion’s Seva Mandir, Mangalore on Tuesday September 2.

Roy Castelino said that the academy is ready to start Konkani in the PU colleges if the state government gives permission. "The government has forwarded a copy of the syllabus to the Goa University for approval. We are hoping to start Konkani as a third language in PU colleges from next academic year. Presently, Konkani is offered as the third language to students in 60 primary schools, 27 high schools and four degree colleges," he added.

The Academy president also said, "A proposal to set up a separate Konkani study chair in Mangalore University has been sent to the state government. In addition, the same has been forwarded to Smriti Irani, union minister for human resource development. Mangalore University has asked to deposit Rs 2 crore as corpus fund, and CM Siddaramaiah has agreed to take up the issue in the next budget. If it is approved, the chair will have a professor, assistant professor and research persons," he said.

Further he said, "Our intention is to set up a systematic way to stabilize Konkani. There are as many as 41 communities, three religions, five scripts, five states and nearly 50 lac people who speak Konkani. The efforts to recognize Konkani as the third language in the Constitution and permission to teach Konkani in schools have been fruitful. Now, it is the responsibility of parents and teachers to join hands."

Cyprian Monteiro, principal of District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) released a book titled 'Konkani Sampada', a handbook on Konkani methodology for teachers. Speaking about the book, Devdas Pai, registrar of Konkani Sahithya Academy said that the handbook was composed after more than two years of efforts. "It is the result of paper presentations, workshops and discussions. The handbook will help Konkani teachers to resolve any doubt related to the language," he added.

Speaking after releasing the book, Cyprian promised all support from DIET to promote Konkani.

K C Prabhu, former governor of Lion’s Club was the chief guest. He said that the Academy has been doing a lot of work for popularizing Konkani. "It is the responsibility of the teachers and parents to encourage their students as well as children to develop love for the language," he said.

Professor Shivram Shetty of Mangalore University, C P Dinesh president of Lion’s Club shared the dais.