03-25-2005, 12:37 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Appeasing minority, again
NS Kapur
The haste with which the Parliament has enacted the bill to set up the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions is a great leap forward towards further appeasement of minorities. Article 30(i) of the Constitution guarantees an absolute right to the minorities, religious and linguistic, to "establish and administer" educational institutions of their choice. No other Constitution offers such rights to them in absolute terms. In fact, all other fundamental rights in our Constitution are hedged around with one restriction or the other with the sole exception of the educational rights of minorities.
A common problem of minority institutions is the role of madarsas that provide fodder for the growth of fundamentalism, as for instance the Deoband-Taliban axis represented the legacy of revivalism. Madarsas have sprung up all over the country in countless numbers, offering education to boys from primary to seventh standard in Arabic and Urdu languages. Besides, they provide physical education and emphasise on the handling of toy guns and rifles in the name of moral rearmanent. A number of students at the Aligarh Muslim University come from madarsa background, and are susceptible to the influence of militant Islam. The arrest of SIMI (Student Islamic Movement India) leader from the AMU is a case in point.
The minority psyche has not spared the majority as well. Hindus are a local minority in Kashmir, Panjab, Pondicherry, Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya. Their educational institutions in these states can claim the minority status. For instance, DAV College, Jallundur (Panjab) has been granted minority status by the High Court. The National Minorities Commission has already recommended minority status to Hindus who are living in Kashmir. Besides, there are nearly 20,000 Shishu Mandirs and Vidya Bharti schools scattered all over the country where education is imparted on the RSS's view of history. They teach that the rule of Hindu rulers in ancient India was golden. That Hedgewar, Golwalker and Veer Savarkar were among the great freedom fighters; and that Muslims, Christians and Parsis are foreigners. Besides, the caste system, child marriage and Sati practicers are defended. Further, Gujarat State Education Department had addressed a circular to all state schools, on January 20, 2000, to subscribe to RSS Magazine Sadhana.
Similarly, the Vijay Shanti Education Trust in Rajasthan claimed minority status for members of Jain community. The Rajasthan High Court observed, in its judgement in September 2001, that the founder of Jain religion lord Rishab Deo was himself a Kshatriya (Hindu) and that the Jains believed in all the deities worshipped by Hindus. The Court further ruled that if each section worshipping separate deities was recognised as a different community, it would lead to the fragmentation of the society. Still, the State Government recently accorded minority status to the Jain community in Rajasthan.
The status of women in minority institutions deserves introspection. Their biased approach towards women was noticeable when a woman teacher in the SGTB Khalsa College (Delhi) was sent on leave because she had come to the college with a hair cut, which is against the Sikh tenets. Another Sikh woman teacher of Mata Sundri College (Delhi) lost her job because she married a Hindu. The St Stephen's College (Delhi) is no exception, and a women was denied the presidentship of the college students union in 1980s even though she was declared elected in the first count. Thereafter she was refused admission in MA (History), although she had scored first division in the same subject from St Stephen's.
The emergence of minority within a minority is another unsavoury phenomenon. The Dashmesh Institute of Research and Dental Science at Faridkot (Panjab), as per the resolution of their Society (July 20,1996), circulated the admission notice debarring Patit Sikhs (without beard and turban) from seeking admission to the institute. It, thus, discriminates between "Sehajdhari" and "Keshadhari" students of the Sikh community. The "Sehjdhari" Sikhs are eligible voters for electing candidates to the SGPC Amritsar. The parallel growth of Protestant and Catholic faiths is reflected in the Memorandum and Articles of Association of St Stephen's that provides for only a Protestant to become its principal. As regards Muslims, the appointment of Vice-Chancellor Bashiruddin Ahmed was opposed by a Janta Dal MP Mohd Fazal on the ground of his being an Ahmedia Muslim. Likewise, Shia Muslim Professor Mushirul Hasan, the Pro-VC of the Jamia Milia Islamia, was looked down upon by the Sunni Muslims.
There is a general belief that a secular state exists only on paper if a citizen not being a member of the community which founded the institution can neither get admission nor become head of the institution, notwithstanding the fact that the institution is funded wholly or partially by the state. What is disturbing is that single faith educational institutions tend to institutionalise segregation instead of encouraging tolerance, with the result that students brought up are ignorant of others religions and cultures. The task of reforming minority run institutions brooks no delay. Functional transparency and the separation of administrative and religious function can be one of the options.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
NS Kapur
The haste with which the Parliament has enacted the bill to set up the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions is a great leap forward towards further appeasement of minorities. Article 30(i) of the Constitution guarantees an absolute right to the minorities, religious and linguistic, to "establish and administer" educational institutions of their choice. No other Constitution offers such rights to them in absolute terms. In fact, all other fundamental rights in our Constitution are hedged around with one restriction or the other with the sole exception of the educational rights of minorities.
A common problem of minority institutions is the role of madarsas that provide fodder for the growth of fundamentalism, as for instance the Deoband-Taliban axis represented the legacy of revivalism. Madarsas have sprung up all over the country in countless numbers, offering education to boys from primary to seventh standard in Arabic and Urdu languages. Besides, they provide physical education and emphasise on the handling of toy guns and rifles in the name of moral rearmanent. A number of students at the Aligarh Muslim University come from madarsa background, and are susceptible to the influence of militant Islam. The arrest of SIMI (Student Islamic Movement India) leader from the AMU is a case in point.
The minority psyche has not spared the majority as well. Hindus are a local minority in Kashmir, Panjab, Pondicherry, Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya. Their educational institutions in these states can claim the minority status. For instance, DAV College, Jallundur (Panjab) has been granted minority status by the High Court. The National Minorities Commission has already recommended minority status to Hindus who are living in Kashmir. Besides, there are nearly 20,000 Shishu Mandirs and Vidya Bharti schools scattered all over the country where education is imparted on the RSS's view of history. They teach that the rule of Hindu rulers in ancient India was golden. That Hedgewar, Golwalker and Veer Savarkar were among the great freedom fighters; and that Muslims, Christians and Parsis are foreigners. Besides, the caste system, child marriage and Sati practicers are defended. Further, Gujarat State Education Department had addressed a circular to all state schools, on January 20, 2000, to subscribe to RSS Magazine Sadhana.
Similarly, the Vijay Shanti Education Trust in Rajasthan claimed minority status for members of Jain community. The Rajasthan High Court observed, in its judgement in September 2001, that the founder of Jain religion lord Rishab Deo was himself a Kshatriya (Hindu) and that the Jains believed in all the deities worshipped by Hindus. The Court further ruled that if each section worshipping separate deities was recognised as a different community, it would lead to the fragmentation of the society. Still, the State Government recently accorded minority status to the Jain community in Rajasthan.
The status of women in minority institutions deserves introspection. Their biased approach towards women was noticeable when a woman teacher in the SGTB Khalsa College (Delhi) was sent on leave because she had come to the college with a hair cut, which is against the Sikh tenets. Another Sikh woman teacher of Mata Sundri College (Delhi) lost her job because she married a Hindu. The St Stephen's College (Delhi) is no exception, and a women was denied the presidentship of the college students union in 1980s even though she was declared elected in the first count. Thereafter she was refused admission in MA (History), although she had scored first division in the same subject from St Stephen's.
The emergence of minority within a minority is another unsavoury phenomenon. The Dashmesh Institute of Research and Dental Science at Faridkot (Panjab), as per the resolution of their Society (July 20,1996), circulated the admission notice debarring Patit Sikhs (without beard and turban) from seeking admission to the institute. It, thus, discriminates between "Sehajdhari" and "Keshadhari" students of the Sikh community. The "Sehjdhari" Sikhs are eligible voters for electing candidates to the SGPC Amritsar. The parallel growth of Protestant and Catholic faiths is reflected in the Memorandum and Articles of Association of St Stephen's that provides for only a Protestant to become its principal. As regards Muslims, the appointment of Vice-Chancellor Bashiruddin Ahmed was opposed by a Janta Dal MP Mohd Fazal on the ground of his being an Ahmedia Muslim. Likewise, Shia Muslim Professor Mushirul Hasan, the Pro-VC of the Jamia Milia Islamia, was looked down upon by the Sunni Muslims.
There is a general belief that a secular state exists only on paper if a citizen not being a member of the community which founded the institution can neither get admission nor become head of the institution, notwithstanding the fact that the institution is funded wholly or partially by the state. What is disturbing is that single faith educational institutions tend to institutionalise segregation instead of encouraging tolerance, with the result that students brought up are ignorant of others religions and cultures. The task of reforming minority run institutions brooks no delay. Functional transparency and the separation of administrative and religious function can be one of the options.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->