Indian state's relaxed rules helps Christian schools

Christian leaders have welcomed a southern Indian state scrapping a controversial clause in rules set down for granting minority status, saying the move makes it easier for educational institutions to secure such status from the state.

Karnataka state on March 16 abolished the clause that said at least 25 percent of students from a minority community should be studying in a school for the government to approve it as a minority institution. 

The minority status helps an educational institution to get state funding and administrative concessions.

Until now, religious minorities who manage schools had to set apart 25 percent of their seats for students from their minority community, said Father Francis Almeida, director of education of the regional Karnataka Regional Catholic Bishops' Council (KRCBC).

In the case of higher educational institutions, at least 50 percent of seats need to be reserved for the community to help it get the minority status, he said. 

The state government's Department of Minority Welfare in Karnataka has now done away with these clauses and “it is a big relief for us,” Father Almeida told UCA News on March 20.

The only condition for granting the minority status now is that two-thirds of members of a society or trust that owns a minority educational institution must be from a single minority community, Almedia said.

Indian constitution allows religious and linguistic minority groups to establish and manage educational institutions for the benefit of their community.

According to the 2011 Census, nearly 16.28 percent of the state’s 61 million people come from India’s six minority religions -- Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and Parsis. 

As the Christian population is lower compared to the number of educational institutions they own, finding enough Christian students to meet the state criteria was difficult.

The Church runs thousands of educational institutions in the state. They faced the threat of losing their minority status as there was a drastic drop in the number of Christian students in their institutions. 

“The government decision will benefit minorities," said Father Faustine Lucas Lobo, spokesperson of the regional bishops' council.

“Indeed, many of our schools in rural areas do not have the sufficient number of students to meet the criteria,” Father Lobo told UCA News on March 20.

The previous government, headed by the pro-Hindu party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had issued notices to 139 Church-run educational institutions for violating the clause.

The present government belongs to the Congress party, which swears by the secular principles of the Indian constitution.

In 2023, Church leaders filed three petitions in the Karnataka High Court, challenging the government's move to cancel minority status to Christian schools.

The petitions are currently pending in the top court in the state.