More non-minority students studying in minority schools: NCPCR report

In order to prepare the report, the NCPCR conducted a nationwide survey of schools catering to Muslims, Christians, Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis and other linguistic minorities including madrasas.

National Council for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) in its report titled ‘Impact of exemption under Article 15 (5) w.r.t Article 21A of the Constitution of India on the education of children of the minority communities stated that there are a total of approximately 4,81,91,351 children in minority communities. Out of the total, only 8 per cent, aged between 5 and 15, attend schools. “Since minority schools are outside the purview of the RTE Act, there is no compulsion to admit students from disadvantaged backgrounds, with State & UTs like Madhya Pradesh and Chandigarh accepting less than 20% students. In terms of community, only schools belonging to the Muslim community have 24.95% of the student population belonging to disadvantaged backgrounds, while schools established by the rest of the communities (including Linguistic Minority communities) have less than 10% of students belonging to the disadvantaged background of the respective minority community,” the report reads.

In order to prepare the report, the NCPCR conducted a nationwide survey of schools catering to Muslims, Christians, Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis and other linguistic minorities including madrasas. The survey revealed that just over 37 per cent (38,44,074) of students enrolled in these schools belong to minority communities, with non-minority groups making up the majority of the student population.

The report reads, “It is pertinent to note that Article 15(5) empowers the government to form any policy for the upliftment of socially backward class, thus forming the basis of affirmative action in private unaided schools in India. However, since it has been made inapplicable to minority schools along with the RTE Act (Article 21A), the study aimed to understand the impact of their exemption on the children.”

While preparing the report, NCPCR analysed the enrollment data of these minority schools and noted that 62.50 per cent or 64,07,070 students from non-minority communities attend these schools. According to the report, the highest percentage of the non-minority population is present in Jain community schools, i.e. 81.41 per cent, among their minority schools. Meanwhile, the lowest percentages of the non-minority population are present in the Muslim community schools, i.e. 20.29 per cent.

The Christian schools have 74.01 per cent non-Christians in their schools while in Sikh schools, a total of 75.50 per cent of students are non-Sikhs, said the report.  The report also noted that in 2015-16, 1.1 crore Muslim children were out of school.

After this survey, the NCPCR recommended that all such schools, including madrasas, should be brought under the purview of Article 21A and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan — a flagship government programme aimed at ensuring universal access to education. “Need for appropriate steps to extend the provisions of RTE to minority educational institutions or make law with similar effect to ensure RTE of children studying in minority educational institutions,” the report said.

The council also noted that all unrecognised institutions should be mapped and students who are part of these schools should be included in the ‘out of school children’ category. According to the report, unrecognised institutions refer to unrecognised madrasas, Vedic Pathshalas, Gumpas and other forms of non-formal education centres.

It further added that “Greater role of the Minority Cell in NCERT/ SCERTS is to take the fundamental right to elementary education to all children especially children of minority communities.” “Re-examination and further amendment of guidelines for grant of minority status to schools,” the report suggested.

To read the complete report, CLICK HERE

Read More: