VALPOI: Valpoi parents are faced with a dilemma over the recent announcement that the government will make compulsory written and oral tests only in Konkani/Marathi for government jobs.

At the recently held parent-teacher meeting of Unity Primary Public School here, a group of parents discussed the matter and strongly objected the government’s decision stating that those Goan students who had taken Urdu as third language would be deprived of government jobs, and that, this decision would also do injustice to candidates from other minority communities.

Reacting to the Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Parrikar’s announcement in this regard, the parents said that the government can conduct oral interviews in Konkani, but the written tests, if held in Marathi/Konkani, will affect Goan Muslim youth who studied in Urdu medium or took Urdu as third language.

"This is the policy to abolish Urdu from the education system which is unconstitutional," stated a group of parents adding the government should give equal importance to all the languages or else such a decision should not be taken in the larger interest of the minority communities.

Some parents even expressed resentment by saying that conducting tests in Marathi would serve as a backdoor entry for jobseekers from Maharashtra at the cost of Goans. Meanwhile, some of the prominent Urdu scholars present at the meeting opined that such a decision will divert parents and the children to other languages. They said, "Our generation will be unaware of the fact that Urdu is one of the best languages in the world." They further said that such a decision would be opposed tooth and nail all over the state.

Aggrieved parents reiterated that the government should not implement such a decision that would affect the future of Goan Urdu students seeking government jobs. They also appealed to all the organisations of Goa, working to safeguard Urdu language, to pressurise government in revoking the decision.

The parents also demanded that the government should include Urdu as one of the languages for the entrance test for government jobs. PTA member and social activist, Mr Haroon Shah, headmaster of UHS, Mr Mustufa Aga, president of UHPS, Mr Mubarak Ali Khan, VMC councillors, Ms Sehzin Shaikh, Ms Fehmida Khan and other prominent citizens were present for the meeting.