Impact of minority educational institutions in India

                                               Although it is not exactly the same as caste based reservation, there are some schemes in our country for the welfare of minorities. Since it is also a form of positive discrimination, it is necessary to consider this to cover all the bases. The Constitution of India has articles exclusively dedicated for provisions ensuring the welfare of minorities. The fun part is when you realize that the term 'minority' has not been defined anywhere in the Constitution! Maybe, the creators of our Constitution left it to the discretion of the Courts. The Constitutional provisions regarding the welfare of minorities mainly come from the article 30 which says-

' (1) All minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.

 (1A) In making any law providing for the compulsory acquisition of any property of an educational institution established and administered by a minority, referred to in clause (1), the State shall ensure that the amount fixed by or determined under such law for the acquisition of such property is such as would not restrict or abrogate the right guaranteed under that clause.

 (2) The state shall not, in granting aid to educational institutions, discriminate against any educational institution on the ground that it is under the management of a minority, whether based on religion or language.'

Minority population in India
Picture Courtesy : hradvocates.blogspot.com

                                         There are mainly two types of minorities namely religious and linguistic. Obviously, we are interested in religious minorities. According to the central government, the major religious minorities are Christians,Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists and Zoroastrians(Jains).A minority educational institution refers to an institution established and administered by a minority having the right to do so under clause of article 30 of the Constitution.

Following conditions are laid down for grant of recognition to minority educational institution: 

• The aims and objectives of the educational agency incorporated in its bylaws should be clearly specified that it is meant to primarily serve the interests of the minority community to which it belongs.
• The minority educational institution shall not compel any of its religious activities.
• In all academic, administrative and financial matters rules and regulations laid down by respective statutory authorities from time to time shall be wholly applicable to these institutions.
• The minority educational institution shall observe general laws of the land relating to educational institutions.
• The minority educational institution shall appoint teachers as per qualifications laid down by the authority concerned but it will be advisable for them to select teachers and other employees through employment exchange or open advertisement.
• The minority educational institution shall charge the fees as prescribed by competent authority.
• The minority educational institution shall do nothing, which may come in the way of communal and social harmony.
• Fifty percent of seats permitted to be filled up from minority communities shall be equally distributed between free and payment seats.

                                              There are numerous educational institutions run by the minorities throughout the country. Some of them are among the best in their field of study. St Stephens College in New Delhi, Christian Medical College and Hospital in Vellore and Ludhiana, Muffakham Jah College of Engineering and Technology in Hyderabad are a few of them. All these colleges are among the top in their respective fields. The minority educational institutions have contributed to not only the respective minority class but also the whole society. The aids provided by the government is a great encouragement for everyone to establish new educational institutions. This will definitely benefit the nation as a whole. From the table below (Data from the National Council for Minority Educational Institutions), it is observed that number of new minority educational institutions are increasing year by year. And, it cannot be a coincidence that the most number of new minority certified institutions comes from Kerala, which is a progressive and the most literate state in the country. And it is considerably larger than that of  bigger states like U.P. So, the impact of these institutions are not negligible.Well, it seems like a really good sign. But - I know I'm being skeptic here -  shouldn't there be a little something wrong? As usual, lets get all judgmental and see the pros and cons.

Table: Year-wise and state-wise details of minority status certificates issued 

Courtesy : http://ncmei.gov.in

• The minority educational institutions in India are the living proof of the glorious concept of secularism held up by the Constitution of India.
• Discrimination against minorities, if any, can be effectively refuted by the opportunities provided by these institutions.
• Whatever be the kind, educational institutions are always a valuable asset for the nation. There are numerous prestigious minority educational institutions in India in art, science, medical and engineering fields.
• The significance of Christian missionary schools in Kerala in attaining the universal literacy is indisputable.
• Again taking Kerala as an example, the western ideas of the Christian missionary institutions encouraged female education which played a sizable role against the conventional beliefs of gender inequality.
• Minority educational institutions are one of those few places where there is no reservation for the SCs, STs and OBCs.
• Encouragements from the government resulted in increase in number of institutions which created a lot of opportunities for higher education.

As every human being has a basic instinct to misuse anything and everything, we definitely have some facts like these :

• There are a lot of instances of the minority seats being traded for money by the management resulting in the misuse of government aids meant for minority welfare.
• These institutions have a potential to create and foster a communal atmosphere.
• Dominance of a specific group in an institution can increase social gap among communities.
• After all, the whole idea behind this is socially divisive and it is not a good practice in an aspiring secular and democratic nation like India.

                                      As always, this is also a good concept which ,unfortunately, has the potential to come back and bite us if handled carelessly. Implementation through proper channels can bring about the intended results. As in the case of caste, minority vote bank is something every politician has his eye on. These measures of positive discrimination has to be done efficiently and should be stopped in the near future once it becomes irrelevant.



References

1. Minority educational institutions: A critical analysis , CCS Working paper No. 154, http://www.ccs.in
2. http://ncmei.gov.in
3. http://www.indiankanoon.org
4. Ranu Jain,'Minority Rights in Education:Reflections on Article 30 of the Indian Constitution ', Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 40, No. 24 (Jun. 11-17, 2005), pp. 2430-2437.