When education which is "free and compulsory for all children until they reach the age of 14" was inserted in the Constitution not as a fundamental right but as a directive principle of state policy, the intention was clear. Likewise, when educational rights of a "minority, religious or linguistic, to establish and administer educational institutions" was put as a fundamental right in absolute terms and without restriction, the universalisation and uniformalisation of education was obviously written off. The country has neither reached the goal of free and compulsory education for all children, nor are the minorities, religious and linguistic, in any way near the fulfilment of their desired end.The Constitution guarantees under Article 30(1) that "all minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice." It thus comprises the following elements: (1) The guarantee is for a religious or linguistic minority; (2) The right is guaranteed to a religious or linguistic minority to establish and administer educational institutions of its choice; (3) Such a right is not subject to any restriction.The question is, what did the framers of the Constitution intend therein? A reference to the speeches in the Constituent Assembly would indicate it was intended to safeguard the religion and language of the minorities. It seems what the framers of the Constitution had in mind was that an educational institution could be set up by a linguistic or religious minority for the purpose of either teaching the tenets of its religion or giving education to the members of its community primarily in the language of the community concerned. Therefore, it is obvious that if an educational institution has no specific characteristics of a minority institution by reason of its objectives or curriculum, then it is merely an institution as any other subject to the general laws made applicable to all others institutions.The expression "educational institutions of their choice" in Article 30(1) thus leads to the conclusion that the guarantee which is for the minorities is one based on a distinction, between institutions of the type for purposes of general education for the benefit of all citizens regardless of their religion or language and a special institution established for the purpose of preserving either the religion or the language of the minority concerned.The controversial paper that recently formed a part of the proposed agenda for a new educational policy, which was hastily withdrawn by the HRD Ministry for tactical reasons, makes clear that the BJP-led government remains committed to the project of imposing a majoritarian ethos on this country. Interestingly, the said controversial paper had suggested that Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution be amended. One proposal was to amend the heading of Article 29, which now reads as "protection of interests of minorities", with the smooth formulation "protection of linguistic and cultural rights". The BJP also proposed to amend Article 30 to the effect that the right it confers would now be available to "citizens".It may be said that in themselves these amendments do not alter the rights of minorities but only enlarge the scope of entitlement so as to apply to all citizens. But the real problem here is that instead of focussing attention on the service conditions of teachers and their rights in minority institutions, the commitment to protect minority rights have been subsumed as envisaged by the Constitution. Article 30 should be amended as follows: "A minority whether based on religion or language shall have the right to establish and maintain educational institutions." Explanation: the minority shall have the right to manage religious or its linguistic affairs within such an institution. The service conditions of the employees and the rules of governance of such an institution shall be the same as are applicable to educational institutions exempted from the purview of this article.Such an amendment will not only improve the character of education being imparted in minority institutions today, but also will provide the statutory security of service to its teachers.
