Author: Mita Mukherjee
Publication: The Telegraph
Date: June 14, 2006
URL: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060614/asp/calcutta/story_6338708.asp
Christian schools on new route to retain recruitment
rights
Schools run by Christian missionaries, deemed
among the best in the city, are set to seek minority status from the Centre
to pre-empt the state government's intervention in their recruitment of teachers.
The schools that have decided to get themselves
registered with the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions
are St Xavier's, Loreto and Don Bosco, said Father Faustine Brank, a Catholic
priest and a spokesman for the Association of Christian Schools.
A team of representatives of the founder bodies
of the schools will leave for Delhi this week to submit their applications
to the commission.
All missionary-run schools in the city and
the districts are enlisted as minority institutions by the state government,
but a similar declaration from the Centre is a must for the authorities to
bypass the provisions of the West Bengal School Service Commission (Amendment)
Bill 2006.
The bill, passed by the Assembly, makes it
mandatory for all government-aided minority institutions to recruit teachers
through the state school service commission.
The state government has even informed the
schools that financial help would be denied if they refused to go by the revised
rulebook.
Christian organisations claim the bill violates
Article 30 of the Constitution, which allows state-aided minority institutions
to pursue an independent recruitment policy.
"Against this background, it has become
necessary for us to reassert our minority rights. Once an institution is registered
with the Commission, its minority status and rights cannot be challenged,"
said Father Brank.
"Certain developments over the past few
months suggest that the Bengal government is not willing to let us enjoy the
minority rights granted to us by the Constitution, especially in regard to
appointment of teachers," he added.
The government, firm in its stand on the bill,
is not sure of its course of action in the event of missionary schools seeking
minority status from the Centre.
"We are not aware of the national commission's
rules and regulations. We are also not aware that certain schools are seeking
registration with the panel. If need be, we will examine the rules,"
said Ardhendhu Sekhar Biswas, commissioner in the school education department.
He, however, refused to elaborate on the issue,
as the bill is yet to be enacted.
