M’lore: Konkani Academy to bring out PUC syllabus

 

Mangalore, 07 May 2014: The Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Academy will bring out a Konkani language syllabus for Pre-University Colleges soon, said Roy Castelino, president of the academy. This will be in continuation of the focus on taking Konkani to educational institutes.

 

Elaborating on the three-year plan of the Academy, Mr. Castelino told reporters on Tuesday that though Konkani was taught in schools and degree colleges, PUC was a missing link.

 

“Over a span of two years, the registrar B. Devdas Pai has developed the syllabus which will be presented to the government at the end of May. The Education Department has to approve it and then printing of textbooks can start. We hope that the courses can start by the next academic year,” he said.

 

Until now Konkani was being taught in 56 higher primary schools in the Kannada script (a further 13 in Devanagri script), 16 high schools and in St. Aloysius College as a part of the degree course.

 

“While more than 30 schools teach Konkani till Standard IX, only seven schools write the Konkani paper in the SSLC examination. This was because Konkani as a language was missing in PUC, and now we will fill that gap with a syllabus,” he said.

 

Meanwhile, he said, Konkani will also be taken up as a second language in Rosario College, Padua College, and Pompei College in Aikala at the degree level from this year.

 

Similarly, the academy will encourage the setting up of more Konkani clubs in schools and colleges, fund their cultural programmes, and organise Konkani Manyata Divas in schools, Mr. Castelino said.

 

Konkani teachers

However, he said, the government should select Konkani teachers at the earliest, as nearly 135 teachers were currently “doing it out of their own interest” and under “immense” workload. “The government has to appoint at least 250 permanent teachers,” the Academy president said.

 

Apart from schools and colleges, the Academy hopes to start a 20-hour crash course on learning and writing Konkani. “We hope to start the course by August. This is open not just to non-Konkani speakers, but also to those who speak the language and cannot write it,” said Mr. Castelino.

 

Konkani Bhavan

On the topic of the Konkani Bhavan, he said the Academy would ask for 5,000-square-feet in the Mangalore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) developed markets at Urwa or Urwa Stores.

 

There are many ambitious plans laid out for the tenure of the 13-member committee. They plan to bring out “at least two books a month”, with a special focus on writers from “sidelined” communities such as the Siddhi, Kudmi, and Kharvi; to start a “Mobile Konkani Bazaar” by the end of May for the sale of books and CDs; a Konkani Drama Training Centre to direct the youth in drama; and reach out to private enterprises to develop Konkani content – especially animated content – for television and radio, .

 

The Academy kick-started their term with the release of two books - Kochi Ananth Bhat’s collection of poems Phool Aani Kanto and Arvind Shanbhog’s Meghadhoot, a translation of Kalidasa’s original work – at the Academy office.