Karnataka government to minority institutes: Adhere to admission rules

BENGALURU: Minority institutions in the state should mandatorily include 25% of their students from minority communities themselves – be it linguistic or religious.

This has been proposed according to the new draft rules framed by the state government and has been published in a recent Gazette notification.

According to the draft Karnataka Educational Institutions (Recognition of Minority Educational Institutions Terms and Conditions) Rules 2017, the students need not necessarily be from the minority community the institution is affiliated to, but can be from any religious or linguistic minority.

Taking various government orders issued over the years, the guildelines mentioned had directed that the 25% students admitted had to be from the from the particular minority community represented by the institution.

Primary and Secondary Education Minister Tanveer Sait has clarified that this amendment was made to ensure that the interests of minorities stay served.
“This is the main purpose of constituting such institutions, which should not be diluted in any manner. Strict actions, including revoking the minority tag, will be taken if one fails to adhere to these rules,” he said.

Officials cited the Minority Institutions Act (2004) and the Constitution to clarify the amendment. As per clause ‘f’ of Section 2 of National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions Act, 25% of the students admitted in a Christian minority institution should be from any of the minority religions.

Also, according to the eight schedule of the Indian Constitution, a linguistic minority institution in the state should have at least 25% students from communities whose mother tongue is different from the native speaking language of the state (Kannada in Karnataka).