Return, jobs aplenty: Faleiro

'Better education my target'


Kuwait City, November 25: NRI Goans will now be able
to get their academic degrees attested in their state
itself without having to send same to Delhi, says
Goa's Minister of Education and Industries Luizinho
Faleiro.

Faleiro who was in Kuwait on a two-day visit to take
part in the Cultural and Food Festival as a cheif
guest told the Arab Times that the Ministry of Human
Resources has empowered the Goa Uiversity and the Goa
government to attest academic degrees.

Touching on a different topic, Faleiro said "In order
to tackle the problems faced by NRI Goans, our
government has appointed a NRI commissioner who has
been accorded a Cabinet rank so that he can address
the problems in an efficient manner."

The former chief minister observed that the NRI
commissioner, Eduardo has a wealth of experience in
the overseas affairs, having served int he capacity of
a union minister for external affairs. 'He is
well-conversant with the problems of NRI Goans and I
am sure he is doing a fine job," he added.

Progress

Faleiro observed that a problem was brought to his
notice during a community meeting held on Wednesday
that passengers flying to Goa from Kuwait by Indian
Airlines are charged higher fare than those travelling
to Keral although the latter flight duration is
longer. "I will take up the matter with the ministry
of civil aviation and I am confident that we will be
able to tide over this problem."

"The presence of formidable Goan Diaspora in Kuwait
makes me feel that I am in Goa, and it is basicaly the
lvoer of Goans here that brought me to Kuwait," he
added.

Faleiro, who has been widely praised for carrying out
reforms in the educational sector, explained that in a
democractic set-up empowerment of the people wasa
major task and that for the last fifteen months the
Ministry of Education under his patronage has adopted
around 50-odd schemes in an effort to improve the
quality of education and that emphasis is being laid
on quality.

"One must have a vision in order to achieve progress.
I want to improve the education standard in Goa at all
levels right from primary to the university level.
What surprised me was that for the last five years not
a single Goan did well in the IIT or national
competitive examinations. This does not mean that our
children are not intelligent or hard-working. Our
children are indeed intelligent but the problem was
that we did not have a road map and vision. The
fifty-odd schemes which I have introduced will enable
to improve the standard of education in Goa."

Faleiro affirmed that his schemes faced opposition
from certain quarters but took pride in the fact that
the President India on September 1st honoured Goa as
numero uno state in the country in the realm of
education.

"It is good to see that our efforts have paid rich
dividends. I had a great honour and privilege of
honouring around 20-odd Goan students, out of which
four students were successful at IIT exams, while 10
passed the Bitts Pillani examinations."

Faleiro said the skills of higher secondary teachers
were upgraded through the Bitts Pillani system and
that the government was delighted to achieve the
desired results. "In a bid to revamp the education
system, we set-up a website in addition to
establishing a question bank and the results are there
for everyone one to see."

Faleiro noted that in order to be able for students to
compete at the national or international level, they
should be equipped with proper study material and that
his decision to introduce the new NCRT syllabus was a
move in the right direction.

"This gives them a level playing field to compete at
the state or national level. It is imperative to give
them the necessary support in light of the
competitiveness."

"In addition to this we have also given free exercise
books, uniforms and bicycles to girl students. We
have also introduced state-of-the-art computer labs or
computer literacy programmes to make learning an
enjoyable experience."

The education minister went on to say that his
decision to introduce English language as a subject
form the 1st standard onwards drew flak from
opposition parties.

Taking the point further, he said "a majority of the
drop outs from Class five onwards - because our
children study pre primary in English medium and then
the primary in either Konkani or Marathi medium and
Class fifth, sixth and seventh again in English medium
and as a result children are finding it difficult to
cope with their studies. So with the introduction of
English language I am sure that children will be able
to fare better."

He opined that the Goa government has put in place a
programme whereby students are given interest free
loans, adding the scheme has a simplistic approach and
so far the scheme has benefited over 3,000 students.

"The government has already spent 12 crores of rupees.
According to the scheme, a student who decides to
pursue his or her studies in India can get a loan of
up to 1 lakh rupees per year while a student wishing
to study overseas can avail alloan of up to 4 lakhs
per year. This measure will help us to realize our
aims and objectives and make Goa a knowledge driven
economy."

Faleiro said children of NRI Goans deserve better
facilities given the fact that they toiling hard in
foreign lands, adding that this also applies to
resident Goans who parents are working in Bombay or
elsewhere. 'The bottom-line is that the state must
support its people whether they are in Goa or outside
Goa".

Faleiro pointed out that in order to discuss the needs
of the NRI Goan students - a conference is being
organized by Eduardo Faleiro and expressed hope that a
suitable solution would be reached that would benefit
NRI Goan students.

Asked whether his government has any plans to seek a
minimum wage for new Goan domestic workers coming to
Kuwait, Faleiro said as of now no such proposal was on
the table and added that he would study the issue in
its entirety before taking up the matter with the
Ministry of External Affairs.

Fielding a question on the economic climate in Goa,
the industries minister said that rapid development in
Goa has created a lot of employment potential and that
the need of the hour was to harness the employment
potential by training the state's own manpower.

"If one achives development and does not have its own
manpower to buttress the same, then you attract a lot
of migrant workers. What worries me is the fact that
nearly 35 to 40 per cent of the population is migrant.
This is not to say that I am against migrant workers,
but it puts severe strain on the infrastructure. I
strongly feel that there should be a plan in place to
ensure that when we achive progress the benefits are
reaped only by Goans. So it is my earnest requst to
NRI Goans, wherever they may be, they should return to
their land and be part of the development."

To a question whether the ongoing International film
Festival will receive a shot in the arm to the tourism
industry in Goa, the minister said that the film
festival so far did not have a significant bearing on
the tourism industry.

Referring to the upcoming Goan elections, the minister
went on to say that he was optimistic that this party
would win absolute majority.

- by: Francis A. Clifford Cardozo
----- Arab Times - Page 6 ------

- Forwarded by www.goa-world.com






________________________________________________________________________________\
____
Do you Yahoo!?
Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta.
http://new.mail.yahoo.com