Mangalore: Roy Castelino, president of Karnataka Konkani Sahithya Academy said that the academy is ready to initiate Konkani as a subject in the pre-university colleges and has also initiated work to start a separate Konkani study chair in the Mangalore University.
He was addressing a number of 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 the Lion’s Seva Mandir, Mangalore on Tuesday, September 2.
Roy Castelino said that the academy is prepared to start Konkani classes in the PU colleges, once the state government gives permission. The government has forwarded a copy of the syllabus to be taught to the students to the Goa University for approval.
Speaking to Newskarnataka, Castelino said, “We are hoping to start Konkani as a third language in the PU colleges from the next academic year. Presently, Konkani is offered as the third language to students of 60 primary schools, 27 high schools and four degree colleges”.
Konkani chair in the university
The academy president also said that a proposal to set up a separate Konkani Study chair in Mangalore University has been sent to the state government.
In addition to it, the same has been forwarded to Smrithi Irani, Union minister for Human Resource Development. Mangalore University has been asked to deposit Rs 2 crore as corpus fund. On this, 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 fellows, he elaborated.
Roy Castelino said “our intention is to set up a systematic way to stabilize Konkani. There are as many as 41 communities, 3 religion, 5 scripts, 5 states and nearly 50 lakh people who speak Konkani,”. The efforts to recognize Konkani as the third language in the constitution and permission to teach Konkani in schools has been fruitful. Now, it is the responsibility of parents and teachers to join hands he added.
Release of Book ‘Konkani Sampada’
Cyprian Monteiro, principal of District Institute Education of Teachers (DIET) released a book titled ‘Konkani Sampada’, a handbook on Konkani methodology for teachers.
Referring the book, Devdas Pai, registrar of Konkani Sahithya Academy said that the handbook is composed over two years of efforts. It is a result of paper presentation, workshop and discussion. The handbook will help Konkani teachers resolve any doubt related to the Konkani language.
Speaking after releasing the book, Cyprian promised all the support from DIET to promote Konkani language.
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’s the responsibility of the teachers and parents to encourage their students as well as children to develop love for the language.
Prof. Shivram Shetty of Mangalore University, C.P Dinesh, president of Lion’s Club shared the dais.
