Minority schools up in arms,say they can’t fill 50 pc quota

CSF general secretary Joseph Dias said: “The education department was encroaching upon and eroding the constitutional rights of the minority institutions through Government Resolutions (GR). It is the department which has provoked us to protest by threatening to de-recognise minority schools for not being able to fill the 50 per cent minority quota seats.”

The meeting highlighted the point that the Christian community is miniscule in number and hence it was not possible for the schools to fill the quota seats from the same community. They also maintained that it would not be possible for these schools to bear the brunt of subsidising education for the government,as it has been doing so far. The management of minority schools and catholic organisations have now urged the state Minorities Department to not to make it mandatory for them to fill quota seats or staff vacancies under fixed criteria.

Fr Joe D’souza,managing trustee of St Ignatius School in Jacob Circle,said,“Instead of making this rule compulsory,the government must discern on a case to case basis. We are restricted from increasing the fees though were are already facing a lot of issues the salary grant which was not given by the Maharashtra government to hundreds of schools since 2003-04.”