The Karnataka High Court ruled yesterday (16 January) that private schools claiming linguistic minority status needed to fulfill their responsibility of reserving 25 per cent of the seats in the upcoming academic year. The Right to Education (RTE) Act mandates that non-minority schools allot 25 per cent of their total seats to children belonging to weaker sections and disadvantaged groups. While privately-run and government-aided minority schools do not come under the ambit of the RTE Act, all private, non-minority ones do.

After the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) cancelled the affiliation of National Public Schools in Bengaluru on recommendation of the state government’s Department of Public Instruction, some private institutions that had declared themselves as a linguistic minority in the state approached the high court. They said the RTE Act didn’t apply to them and the state government didn’t have the jurisdiction to certify if they qualify as minority institutions or not. They had contended that only the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) could do that.

Karnataka High Court has now ruled that the schools following the state’s syllabus need to go to the body set up by the state government, and those teaching the central syllabus should approach the body set up by the central government.

Schools shouldn’t be this bullish and pin their hopes on the NCMEI. This commission was set up in 2004 through an ordinance by the Sonia Gandhi-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government as soon as it came to power. This underscores the importance of the body for the ‘Idea of India’ brigade. According to Section 4 of the Act, a Hindu (or non-minority, to use a politically-correct term) cannot be appointed as a member or chairperson of this body.