Recently, the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court stated that government-aided minority schools can only fill vacancies after the government’s approval. The judges observed that these subsidized institutes run themselves with full autonomy while benefiting from government aid. The bench observations showed that such schools do not implement the RTE act. Additionally, they siphon money from employees to their churches and they unnecessarily burden the government by employing surplus teachers.
The court scathingly observed that the Christian Dioceses maintained records akin to employment exchange registers. The bench further observed the blatant use of such records to violate social justice by giving favored applicants appointments in minority-run government-aided schools. Currently, the bench is hearing a case of a government-paid employee of a Christian school which has brought these issues to the court’s notice.
Local Dioceses’ Manipulation of Employment Opportunities and Self-Exemption from RTE 2009
https://www.verdictum.in/pdf_upload/madras-hcwatermark-1510955.pdf
(Read the Full Judgement Here)Â
Currently, the Madurai bench is hearing an appeal by Jesu Prabha. She is employed at St. Joseph’s Girls Higher Secondary School in Thoothukudi district, Tamil Nadu. Her case is regarding payment of arrears once her appointment at a senior post was approved by the government. While examining the details the court observed the disparity in the education sector’s employment strategies in minority schools of Tamil Nadu.
Furthermore, the bench noted that minority schools have successfully self-exempted themselves from the purview of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act of 2009.
This observation focussed the court’s attention on the free run enjoyed by minority schools in Kerala while benefiting from government aid.
According to the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court, minority-run schools appointed TET-unqualified teachers in vacancies. Additionally, these appointments favored the same minority group to which the institute belongs. Furthermore, the court observed that those who had seniority in the respective dioceses’ list were employed; despite the use of public money to aid these institutes. Therefore, meritorious and eligible candidates were overlooked in favor of those who are in the local dioceses’ good books. The bench ironically compared the diocese’s list to district employment exchanges.
Christian Dioceses Burden the State GovernmentÂ
Currently, there are eight dioceses of the Church in Southern India. Tamil Nadu has a significant number of minority-run government-aided schools under these dioceses. The court found that these institutes appointed surplus teachers while other schools, in the same group, made fresh appointments for vacant sanctioned posts. Thus, the government pays the salary of surplus teachers as well as new appointees in these schools.
Moreover, Christian clergy took on teaching positions in numerous church-run minority schools. These clergymen kept a nominal amount for personal expenses and siphoned off the remaining salary to their respective churches. Since the churches are exempt from income tax, the salary money enables these churches to further invest in their institutions. Therefore, such minority-run institutes claim government aid under the Infrastructure Development in Minority Institutions Scheme in addition to the siphoned government salaries of their clergy. This is a severe misuse of their status as a minority establishment.
Conclusion
The increasing need for educational institutes in India has allowed many minority-run schools to crop up in rural areas. The observations of the Madurai bench of Madras High Court highlight the misuse of government funds and misuse of employment opportunities in these institutes. The effective use of clergy to siphon off government money is a black demo of the behavior of minorities in India. Indian minorities enjoy special schemes and status through the Indian constitution. However, they use the same schemes to increasingly defraud the government of funds and resources. Moreover, the minority-run institutes use their status as a shield for their unfair employment tactics.
Minority-run educational institutes teach Indians an important lesson in subterfuge. As long as a special status is accorded to Indian minorities, they shall continue to flout rules, laws, and moral values without a care for consequences. Their aim can be interpreted by all true citizens of India. Firstly, they want to spread the word of their God be it Allah or Christ. Secondly, exploit every loophole of the constitution to burden the government. And most importantly, enjoy special privileges by shouting ‘minority oppression’ at every given opportunity despite being in the wrong.