Karnataka Minority status scramble

EVEER SINCE THE SUPREME COURT™S judgement in Unaided Private Schools of Rajasthan vs. Union of India (2012) exempted private unaided minority schools from the applicability of s.12 (1) (c) of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE), 2009, which makes it mandatory for all unaided private schools to admit 25 percent of children in class I from among poor and socially disadvantaged children in their neighbourhood, there™s been a rush among private schools in the southern state of Karnataka (pop. 64 million) to acquire minority status. However at that time the state™s BJP government defined minority institutions as schools with at least 75 percent of students from ˜notified™ minority communities. This definition was vehemently opposed by schools aspiring for minority status with some contesting it in court. But a year after the Congress party assumed office in the Vidhana Soudha following the state assembly election of 2013, on June 18 the Congress state government issued a notification defining minority schools as institutions in which at least 25 percent of students are from notified (linguistic or religious) communities. Thus schools which host 25 percent of students from notified linguistic/religious minorities, will qualify for conferment of minority status. In short, exemption from the provisions of s. 12 (i) (c) is now available to a substantially larger number of schools in the state. According to the state government™s department of public instruction, currently there are 1,059 minority schools in Karnataka, and 160 in Bangalore. With the minority status eligibility norms relaxed, the expectation is that a larger number of the state™s 13,000 unaided private schools will apply for ” and get ” linguistic/religious minority status. œOnce the new guidelines are drafted, the Directorate of Urdu and Other Minority Language Institutions under the department of public instruction will examine all the parameters and grant minority status to eligible schools, says Mohammad Mohsin, commissioner for public instruction. The Karnataka Unaided Schools Management Association (KUSMA), which claims a membership of 1,800 schools statewide, has opposed the dilution of the enrolment criterion for minority institutions. œThe main reason for the rising number of schools applying for minority status is not aversion to poor children, but the state government™s failure to reimburse the subsidised tuition fees of quota students. Private unaided schools are yet to receive tuition fee reimbursement for the academic year 2013-14. Moreover the government™s reimbursement amount of Rs.11,000 per s. 12 (1) (c) student covers only tuition fees, and not uniforms, books and other expenses. We want the state government to increase the fee reimbursement amount as it™s become financially untenable for many school managements to run their institutions, says A. Maryappa, secretary of KUSMA. The Congress government™s June 18 circular redefining minority schools, has also incurred the wrath of the RTE Task Force, a coalition of NGOs, parents and activists promoted to monitor effective implementation of the RTE Act in the state. œThe number of free seats in private unaided schools will reduce sharply as the number of minority schools, which are…