Cabral urges Goans to focus on English for global careers

Margao: Curchorem MLA Nilesh Cabral returned from a 31-day campaign in Kerala with a telling lesson — one he promptly delivered to the HSSC toppers he was felicitating in Curchorem on Saturday.

At the roughly 80 to 85 corner meetings he attended across the Manalur assembly constituency of Kerala that went to polls earlier this week, he found many young people struggling to hold a conversation beyond Malayalam. “They were simply unable to communicate in Hindi or English,” Cabral said. He added, “I'm not bringing them down. They may be smarter than us in many ways. But if the world is waiting for you, you need a language it understands.”

“Today the world is waiting for you, because you have wonderful communication skills in English,” he told the gathering, which included students who had scored 75% and above in the Class 12 board examinations. “Konkani, Marathi, Hindi, Kannada — yes, learn them all. But the world needs a language to speak across borders,” he said.

Cabral said young Goans were better placed than they perhaps realised. “The world is not just Goa or India anymore. Take a career where the world is waiting for you,” he said.

He cautioned the students about the pitfalls that lay ahead once they stepped out of school and parental supervision. Warning them against substance use, he said, “There will be people who will tell you to try this, saying it will make you feel nice. Someone will ask you to smoke, someone to drink, someone to do something else. But you must decide — will it help my career? Will it make my parents proud?”