Panaji, May 12 (IANS) Union Minister for Human Resources Development Kapil Sibal will chair a meeting next week to resolve the vexed medium of instruction (MoI) issue in Goa, a state Congress leader said.

Goa Congress chief Subhash Shirodkar told reporters Wednesday that Sibal, along with Labour Minister Oscar Fernandes, Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and representatives from the two opposing factions, would discuss the issue in New Delhi May 18.

The deadlock over choosing English or regional languages such as Konkani or Marathi as the medium of instruction (Mo) in primary schools has virtually divided the state Congress unit and the ruling coalition parties on religious lines.

"We will try and arrive at a conclusion at the Delhi meeting. We will resolve the deadlock," Shirodkar said.

The language debate in Goa comes against the backdrop of the central Right to Education (RTE) Act, which envisions the child's mother tongue - in Goa's case Konkani - as the medium of instruction.

The act is scheduled to be ratified in the state legislative assembly soon.

At present the Goa government offers aid and grants only to schools in which Konkani or Marathi is used as an MOI.

The Forum for Rights of Children's Education (FORCE), a parent's front backed by a large section of Catholic politicians and the clergy has backed English as the MOI, while the Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM), supported by a section of the freedom fighters and rightwing protagonists, have backed both Konkani and Marathi languages as a medium of instruction.