Panaji: A Goa-based child rights group has threatened to launch indefinite hunger strike if the state government fails to include English as a medium of instruction at the primary school level.

The Forum for Rights of Children to Education (FORCE), which met at the state’s commercial capital of Margao on Monday, wants the government to amend the Goa School Education Act to choose English as a medium of instruction along with Konkani and Marathi.

FORCE Secretary Savio Lopes has threatened to go on an indefinite hunger strike if the government does not heed the demand before the state legislature begins its monsoon session in July.

Speaking to journalists in the Panaji church complex, Lopes sought parents support for the cause. The group had in 2011 had demanded grants for schools that shifted their medium of instruction from English to Konkani. It was for the first time that grants were allowed to schools with non-regional languages as the medium of instruction at the primary school level and parents had supported the demand, The Times of India reported.

If the demand is not met, “I will sit on an indefinite hunger strike and I am not afraid to die for our cause,” Lopes said.

The group wants the government to make policy decision to allow English medium primary schools to operate with state grants along with Konkani and Marathi primary schools. Such a move would help prevent future governments from changing the decision, he added.

Fr Zeferino D’Souza of the Diocesan Society of Education supported the demand and urged parents to not lose patience and to take the fight to its logical conclusion.