Media release
Melbourne, May 14: Karaval Konkans Australia Inc, in collaboration with Mandd Sobhann, Konkani’s premier organisation has delivered the first online certificate Konkani course for a batch of students across Australia. A batch of over 30 students, with the encouragement of their parents stated this weekly course in March 2025. Over the next 8 weeks, these students studied, discussed, responded, translated and learnt the beauty of the language. The course was conducted online from India by Arun Raj Rodrigues and Rony Crasta from Mandd Sobhann.
In a world where people migrate and aspire to assimilate in the western world, it was indeed heartening to these amazing students actively participate at every session, complete homework as assigned and work with the teachers to grasp everything that was on offer.
The finale and closing ceremony were once again conducted in a traditional manner to celebrate the achievements of these students. Clement Lobo and Reena Lobo were the guests of honour. The closing ceremony was unique in its own way being conducted online with some people in attendance physically, student families based in their residences across Australia and the teachers based in Mangaluru, demonstrating that if there is an intent to learn and achieve, technology can truly be your best friend.
All students present during the class shared their thoughts and experience online, while Evana D’Silva, Yonathan D’Souza and Noah D’Souza represented the entire batch during the closing ceremony. Among them, Yonathan D’Souza and Noah D’Souza shared their experiences and expressed their feelings about the class. This definitely got a smile on the faces of everyone involved in this journey. The honoured guests lit a lamp and then handed this over to students and families that were physically present at the ceremony to symbolizing the mission of KKA – “From our generation to then next” making sure that Konkani language and heritage does not die down rather spreads its light across Australia and the world.
Clement beautifully spoke of the connection of celebrating Mother’s Day and the culmination of the course of our mother tongue ensuring that we value the language and mothers in equal measure. Reena expressed her happiness and applauded the way this course and all other initiatives that KKA has conducted with a sense of purpose and professionalism to honour our language and heritage.
Arun Raj and Rony were also thanked for their contribution and commitment in making the course simple and interesting for our children. All students who have attended a minim of 80% of the classes will be presented with a Certificate jointly endorsed by KKA and Mandd Sobhann.
Karaval Konkans Australia thanks the students, their parents, the coordinators and the teachers at Mandd Sobhann who made this a successful initiative. With many more such community activities planned across Australia, the committee requests all Konkani speakers across Australia to follow them on social media to remain updated on happenings.
The Karaval Konkans Australia Inc committee is grateful to everyone who attended the programme and is indebted to everyone who contributed financially as well as with their time and support to make this a course meaningful for all students.