Post-RTE, mad rush for minority tag 930 schools across the state got the status between January 2009 and June 4, 2012

Post-RTE, mad rush for minority tag

930 schools across the state got the status between January 2009 and June 4, 2012

Schools scrambled to get minority status after the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act was framed, say education officials. Records show that after the RTE was implemented in 2009, around 930 schools across the state got minority status from January 2009 to June 4, 2012. Under the Act, all schools except minority unaided schools will have to admit 25% students belonging to economically weaker sections of society. Experts said schools applied for minority status so that they would not have to keep aside 25% seats for poor students. Even as the June 10 deadline for completing admissions under the RTE quota has worried most schools, big schools seem to be relaxed as their unaided minority status exempts them from the rule. However, a recent circular of the state government’s minority department said that around 930 schools from the state, including 287 schools from Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai, got the minority status after the RTE Act was put in place. “Right from the time the RTE bill was discussed, minority educational institutions were opposed to some provisions saying that it was an infringement of their constitutional rights. Schools had started applying for minority status hoping that by the time the Act is enforced, they would escape its provision,” said a senior education official. Minorities minister Arif Naseem Khan said that in the past two to three months, especially after the Supreme Court decision to exempt private unaided minority schools from implementing the 25% reservation, they received thousands of applications from schools seeking minority status. “There is a mad rush of schools applying for minority status after the RTE Act was enforced. Thousands of applications are pending with us for the last two to three months. Seeing the rush, we have now become strict in granting status. We have increased the number of checks and inspections so that only genuine minority schools can benefit from it,” he said. Even those schools which have the minority tag have less than 50% minority students. “Though any institution claiming to be minority needs to admit 505 minority students, most of the schools do not abide by these rules. Most of their students are non-minority. Why should such schools be exempted from the RTE Act?” asked Jayant Jain, president of Forum for Fairness in Education, a parents teachers organisation. He added that the government should check the rolls of such schools.