Media Release

Mangaluru, Mar 23: In the light of the progress of Konkani in the future, a seminar was organised on March 20 by the Institute of Konkani at St Aloysius College (Autonomous), here.

Dr Alwyn D’Sa, the registrar (designated) of the college spoke on National Education Policy -2020 and what possibilities regional languages have. In his speech, he said, “National Education Policy (NEP)- 2020 emphasises on education in mother tongue from Anganwadi to the eighth standard. But if the NEP is implemented, there will be no textbooks in Konkani. In this regard, there is a challenge and opportunity for the Institute of Konkani and likeminded institutes to spearhead the preparation of all the required textbooks in Konkani language from Anganwadi to eighth grade.”

He also said that Konkani classes should be conducted for professionals so that employees, nurses and other professionals from other states can work and interact with Konkani institutions, here.

Anne Rajan, an assistant professor of computer science at Dempe College, Goa, spoke on natural language processing (NLP) saying that NLP is nothing but teaching the computer to understand and manipulate human language. She spoke about the need for learning natural language processing for the development of Konkani. She further enumerated the progress made in this regard in Goa. “The modern world is fast-paced in technology and technology is changing fast. The language that does not record this development can gradually lose its oscillation. To use any language in modern technology, that language needs a sound resource,” she added.

At the beginning of the programme, the director of the Institute of Konkani, Dr (Fr) Melwyn Pinto SJ welcomed the gathering and chaired the sessions. Programme coordinator Joachim Pinto compered the programme. Delvita Veigas proposed the vote of thanks. Students from St Joseph's Engineering College, Vamanjur, St Aloysius College (Autonomous) and several Konkani authors were present for the seminar.