Goan Observer

India’s school education system serves 24.69 crore children across 14.71 lakh recognised schools. These schools are not a monolith. They belong to four distinct management types — Government, Government Aided, Private Unaided Recognised, and Others — each with a different mandate, funding model, student body, and accountability structure. For decades, the debate has framed this as a simple contest: government schools are failing, private schools are succeeding.

DON’T know about you but I have always had a very soft corner for …er…the sour lemons of life which are so full of sunshine even on gloomy days! The world of lemons is truly infinite and these days they’re bringing to mind that sad old 1995 hit song — Fool’s Garden, Peter Freudeuthaler’s “Lemon tree, very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet, but the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat…” Etcetera.

The irony is that unlike in the rest of the country, Goa has over 600 government primary schools. There is no shortage of qualified very well-paid teachers. The majority of government schools have adequate to good infrastructure. But nobody wants to go to government primary schools even though they are free and offer mid-day meals. This is primarily because the overwhelming majority of the government schools in Goa are in the Marathi-medium.

SHASHIKALA KAKODKAR VERY ABLE ADMINISTRATOR! LIZ and I had the privilege to attend the book launch of “Tai-Smruti Sugandh” — a tribute to our late Shashikala Kakodkar, Goa’s only woman chief minister, penned by her younger sister Jyoti Bandekar. The function at the Panjim Gymkhana was spectacular and very well organised. Son Sameer Kakodkar spoke from the heart of facts that are far-fetched in today’s Goa, it was simply the truth and left a lot to introspect and soul search.

INDIA’S domestic aviation story is usually told through growth: expanding airports, record aircraft orders, and a rising number of first-time flyers. Yet the latest traffic pattern reveals a less reassuring reality. In July 2026, IndiGo carried 80.82 lakh domestic passengers and commanded 67.4% of the market. The Air India group, including Air India and Air India Express, carried 28.75 lakh passengers and held another 24%.

By Arvind Pinto (IRS, Chief Commissioner Income Tax, Retired) WHEN I sat for the Indian Civil Service Examinations popularly known in Delhi as the Great Indian Gamble in November 1975, conducted by the Union Public Service Commission, the process was daunting but straightforward. In the mid 70’s the sitting for the IAS examination had an aura, the premier government service, the steel frame that once ruled India.

COVERING the courts is a difficult task because reporters have to remain present in the courtroom, know the law, take down the arguments, and reproduce the order passed without distortion. When I was the senior legal correspondent of a national daily, I had many adverse experiences where the presiding officer of a tribunal would direct me not to take down notes. This is preposterous because the right to practice any profession in Article 19 (1) (g) includes the right to take notes in open court.

SOME of my most enduring memories of Goa are of people pausing for somebody else’s God. A bus conductor asks the driver to slow near a roadside shrine so that flowers can be offered. A Catholic bows instinctively while passing a temple. A Hindu folds his hands before a church. In my village, Hindu families placed flowers along the route when the statue of Our Lady passed in procession. Nobody called it interfaith harmony. Nobody organized it. It was simply the Goan way.

AND a few stray thoughts for yet another Saturday. For a Saturday following the week when the Pramod Sawant government started a fresh attack on the Catholic community in Goa. For a Saturday following the week when Chief Minister Pramod Sawant claimed that the Goa Medical College & Hospital will be soon converted into a five star complex.

GBA SECRETARY FLAT ROBBED THE flat of activist Sabina Martins and her husband trade unionist Subhash Nair Jorge, was allegedly burgled while the family was away in Coorg, Karnataka, for a holiday. According to the complainant, the Martins returned home to find the backdoor of the flat in St Inez broken open and several cupboards ransacked. Missing items included four gold bangles, gold earrings, a silver sindoor box, as well as some copper and brass vessels.