Mr. Syed Shahabuddin, President of All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, in a statement on July 18, has reminded the Government of submission of a memorandum by its delegation on 10 November 2009, and says that the delegation was assured by the Minister that the shortcomings will be addressed and the ambiguities shall be clarified when the Rules were being framed. “Unfortunately so far the AIMMM has seen no indication nor received any firm reply from the Minister. There is growing unrest and dissatisfaction in the Muslim community about the future of their educational institutions,” he said.
The statement draws the attention of the Government towards Sections 18 and 19 of RTE Act, which are of direct relevance to Muslim situation. Section 18 (1) lays down that after the commencement of the Act no private school “be established or function, without obtaining a certificate of recognition from such [local] authority, by making an application in such form and manner, as may be prescribed.” The clause further adds that “no such recognition shall be granted to a school unless it fulfils norms and standards specified under section 19”. Sub-section 3 of the same section adds that even recognised schools will be de-recognised for “contravention of the conditions of recognition” while sub-section 4 of the same section says that such derecognised schools will cease to function from the date of the withdrawal of recognition. Sub-section 5 of the same section defines punishment for “any person who establishes or runs a school without obtaining certificate of recognition, or continues to run a school after withdrawal of recognition” and the stipulated punishment is a fine of one lakh rupees. The sub-section adds that “in case of continuing contraventions, the fine will be ten thousand rupees per day as long as the contravention continued…” Clearly this punishment is draconian, arbitrary and in clear violation of the spirit of the “Right to education”.
Section 19 states that no school shall be established or recognized “unless it fulfils the norms and standards…” Under sub-section 2 of Section 19, existing schools are ordered to take steps to fulfil norms and standards at their own expense within a period of three years from the commencement of this law. The same fine as mentioned above in 18(5) is again repeated here under Section 19(5) for any person who continues to run a school after the recognition is withdrawn.
Clearly Sections 18 and 19 will hit poor minorities the hardest and will curtail their right even to run already established schools and to establish new ones. As a result many madrasas, schools and colleges which are already running, in towns and villages, will shut their doors and it will be much more difficult for the minority, individuals and organisations, to start educational institutions which normally draw their resources from within the poor community.
It goes against the constitutional right of the minorities and the government policy, that running school should be forced to close down on the mere technicality of not meeting “norms” which are arbitrary in nature.
Moreover, norms, especially those related to land and infrastructure, must also be relaxed for minority educational institutions to be established in future, as application of these norms will be tantamount to nullifying the constitutional guarantee for the minorities to establish and run their schools. Even the quantum of required land even in rural areas are beyond the means of the Muslim community. Without such a relaxation, the Right to Education will turn into Denial of Education for the Muslim minority.
Though the Act is silent madrasas, it may be interpreted that the madrasas fall under the category of “unaided schools” (section 2, n.iii). It is our submission that madrasas must be kept out of the purview of this Act and children of age group 6-14 studying in madrasas should be considered as bona fide students fulfilling the purpose of the Act. Moreover, the madrasas should not be subject to the norms applicable to “schools” as defined in this bill.
The AIMMM is of the considered view that the Act must be amended by redefining ‘schools’ to exclude equivalent Muslim minority institutions i.e., minority schools as well as Madarsas, and treat their students as bonafide students who fulfil the object and purpose of the Act.’
Ensure Necessary Amendments to the RTE Act: Jamaat Chief
Jamaat-e-Islami Hind strongly supports the concept of free, compulsory education for children up to 14 years. But the law the Union Government has enacted in this regard does not fully corroborate with this concept. While on one hand it allows privatisation of education and promotes the concept of education as business, on the other it denies the minorities of their Constitutional rights; nor does it keeps in view the rights of the cultural entities in the country, said Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Maulana Syed Jalaluddin Umari in a press statement on July 19.
Considering the apprehensions and objections raised by Muslims, other minorities and educational experts with regard to the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act in right earnest, the Jamaat chief said RTE Act seems to be based on the concept of providing free, compulsory education for every child in a welfare State; however the implementation of this law will be limited to those studying in government or government-aided educational institutions. This law asks private educational institutions that do not receive aid from the government, to admit up to 25 per cent children coming from weak and deprived sections of society whose tuition fees will be paid by the Government. In this case, the remaining 75 per cent children of such schools will stand practically deprived of their right to free education. Thus RTE Act gives way to two kinds of education in the country – one, the non-standard education provided by government and government-aided schools for poor and hapless children; and the other, quality education provided by public, unaided schools for well-to-do, influential sections of society.
The Jamaat leader further said that this Act deems it essential for private schools seeking government affiliation to teach only the syllabi approved by the government. This rule runs in contravention to the basic right of minorities to establish and run educational institutions of their choice enshrined in Article 30(1) of the Constitution. In this way, the definition of Elementary Education in RTE Act casts madrasas out of the purview of this Act. Further, the parents who will not be able to provide elementary education for their wards as defined by the government will be held guilty. Thus all such institutions that would not be able to get government affiliation under Sections 18 and 19 of this Act will be closed. This may affect the madrasas that have no registration or affiliation from any government board.
The Jamaat chief has demanded from the Government to soften the conditions related to land and infrastructure for minority educational institutions seeking affiliation. He has also demanded exemption of madrasas from RTE Act.
He has called upon the Government to remove the apprehensions of Muslims and educational experts by effecting necessary amendments in the RTE Act.