Some RTE provisions impinge on minority rights: Indian church
By IANSMonday, May 3, 2010
NEW DELHI - Expressing apprehension about certain clauses of the Right to Education Act, the Catholic Bishop Conference of India Monday said these provisions impinge upon the rights of the minorities to manage their institutions.
“We appreciate the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government’s effort to spread universal education for all by passing the RTE Act. However, certain sections of the act are discriminatory and violate the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution of India,” CBCI chairman Joshua Mar Ignathios said at a press conference here.
He said that the Sections 21 and 22 of the act take away the right to administer the institutions established by churches given by the constitution, as they specify the composition of the school management committees.
“Section 21 removes with one stroke the fundamental right guaranteed in section 30(1) of the constitution which gives the minorities the right to administer, consisting of rights to constitute school managing committee, to appoint teaching and non-teaching staff, to set up reasonable school fee structure and to select and chose students,” he said.
He said that efforts are afoot to convince the authorities to make changes ensuring that the minorities’ rights are safeguarded.
“We are trying to convince the government to ensure the constitutional rights given to minorities are not curtailed. If they are curtailed we will have to go to court,” he said.
The CBCI has already met Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal and submitted representations to other senior officials, but Ignathios said that “nothing has been received more than assurances”.
“Moreover, section 37 of the RTE Act bars any suit of legal proceedings against the government, national or state commission for child rights, local authority, school authority, school management or any other person… it takes away the citizen’s rights to approach the court,” he said.
