Tamil Nadu mandates admission of at least 50 per cent minority students to save status

SALEM: Cracking the whip on errant minority institutions in Tamil Nadu, the State government has, through a Government Order (GO), made it mandatory for minority institutions to fill at least half of their seats with students belonging to the minority community or lose their minority status.According to GO MS No. 65, dated April 5, issued by School Education Secretary Pradeep Yadav, educational institutions under the purview of the school education department, including Teacher Training Institutes, claiming minority status should admit not less than 50 per cent of students belonging to minority community in every academic year.

If the number of eligible applications received from the minority community are less than 50 per cent of the seats, the institution should admit all such minority students without any screening or condition. In case of aided institutions, the educational institutions under the purview of the School Education department, including the Teacher Training Institutes, claiming minority status shall admit not more than 75 per cent of the students belonging to the minority community in every academic year.

The educational agency of such minority educational institutions shall give wide publicity to reach out to the respective minority community to achieve at least 50 per cent of admissions from that particular community in any given academic year in future and shall take all measures to ensure easy and transparent access to minority students. (This means that 50 per cent of admissions in Muslim institution must be of Muslim students, and in a Christian institution of Christian students). 

They shall also submit their returns with regard to the percentage of minority students admitted in their institutions to the authorities concerned by the end of September every year without fail, in order to retain their minority status, the GO added.The GO also pointed out various judgments given by the High Court and Supreme Court and rules given to minority institutions in the state of Andhra Pradesh and in Maharashtra, in this regard.

It is clarified that the concept of minority is State specific and is with reference to proportion of population in that state. Therefore, the students belonging to any minority group, residing only in the State of Tamil Nadu can claim right for admission in such minority institutions, the GO added.

Speaking to Express, senior officials of the School Education Department in Chennai said Tamil Nadu’s move was not new, given that in Andhra Pradesh a minority institution should have 75 per cent of minority students in their institutions to enjoy the right of minority status. Likewise, in Maharashtra, it is 50 per cent, officials said. 

The officials drew attention to the errant minority institutions, including aided ones in which teachers were paid by the State, that did not follow guidelines in recruitment of teachers. “As per the rules, a teacher should pass Teacher Eligibility Test (TET). But these minority institutions, claiming that they enjoy minority rights, do not follow this important rule. Likewise the minority institutions running matriculation schools are not giving up 25 per cent of their seats under the Right to Education (RTE) Act on the grounds of their minority status,” an official added.

Educationist Prince Gajendra Babu slammed the Government Order. 

“Admission is open for all, irrespective of religion, language, caste or creed. Then how can anyone say at least 50 per cent should be belonging to the same minority community. If there are only a few people in the area where a minority management starts an institution, does that mean they should not admit other community people more and above 50 per cent of students of that minority community? Can it provide economic strength or can any institute survive economically?” Babu wondered. 

“Tamil Nadu is the state of social justice... This GO is against the Constitution. We should not follow another state if they are following bad things,” he added. M G Dawood Miakhan, administrative member of Organisation of Muslim Educational Institutions and Associations of Tamil Nadu , also raised concerns regarding the GO. 

“We think this GO was not brought out with good intentions. In most of the Muslim  institutions, majority of the students are from other communities. We could not fill 50 per cent (of seats with) students from own community and this will affect all sections of people and create social problems,” Dawood Miakhan added.

He said the GO will affect many minority institutions. “This issue will be discussed in our organisation soon. For the past many years, government has not been giving minority status for many institutions, even allegedly after court order. First, they should give status to the institutions, then they may think of bringing out these kinds of GOs,” he said.