Minority-run educational institutions must obtain the requisite certification in order to avail the protection guaranteed under the Article 30 of the Constitution, said M.S.A. Siddique, Chairman of the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions of India, Government of India.
He was addressing the 13th annual Islamic women’s welfare conference organised at the Crescent group of institutions here on Sunday in association with SIMAN.
He said that minority-run institutions that have difficulty in obtaining the certificate that states as such can take recourse to the Commission after due process. He also elaborated the various procedures for applying to the commission.
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The Article 30 is a fundamental right that empowers any individual to establish an educational institution for the minorities and have an administrative system of their choice. As said by the Supreme Court in its judgement on the TMA Pai case, minority-run institutions can have their own administrative systems without Government interference.
They can admit students hundred per cent from their own community but if they were to avail Government aid, they will have an obligation to admit non-minority students to a reasonable extent as determined by the Government, he said.
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As reported by the Sachar Committee, he said that education backwardness was high in Muslim community with main reason being the gradual dilution of the rights guaranteed to the minorities by the Constitution.
National database
Speaking earlier, Shabistan Gaffar, Chairperson, National Committee on Girls Education, Government of India, said that a national database has to be formed to provide information on the rights of minorities and the welfare schemes.
Non-governmental organisations working with the minorities across the country should unite and form hubs in their localities to access this database and also report their problems to the government. Education and the various schemes for promoting it should be linked to employment, she said.
The Committee was going to hold five zonal conferences across india with Andhra Pradesh having been chosen in the south. These conferences would find out the problems at the grass roots level and report to the Government, said Dr. Shabistan Gaffar.
S. Sumiya, Principal, Thassim Beevi Abdul Kadar College for Women, Keezhakarai, gave a report on the educational status of minority girls in Tamil Nadu. The minorities continued to remain visibly backward in educational despite economic assistance form the State and Centre. This was due to the low levels of awareness, she said.