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ARCHBISHOP Mar Joseph Powathil, 76, chairman of the Inter-Church Council for Education, is a veteran of many battles in the education sector in Kerala. In a conversation with Frontline on July 21, when the church began gathering its members for a show of strength, Powathil explained why the struggle has become “a matter of survival” for the Christian minority in the State. Excerpts:
There has not been a call for a second Liberation Struggle. The statement was attributed to Archbishop Andrews Thazhath [of Thrissur]. He did not say it that way. He said the situation may develop to such an extent that in future we may think of it. It was not a declaration of war.
Education is very important for us. Ours is a religion that has a certain creed, a certain moral code. That has to be transmitted to all our children. That is done basically through education. Along with the subjects they study, we believe, our children should also imbibe the moral point of view, the vision of God that is connected to their faith. We can transmit our vision of life and morality only through education, what the Constitution-makers called “the culture attached to religion” – just like the culture attached to a language. So linguistic and religious minorities were granted the freedom to establish and administer schools of their own as a fundamental right. But the right to “administer” educational institutions means the right to admission, the right to appoint teachers and the right to normal governance. This right is guaranteed to minorities. But through the legislation on self-financing colleges passed last year, the LDF government has defined minority in such a way that all our educational institutions cease to be minority educational institutions because they have made it dependent on the number of institutions that we have in proportion to the number of institutions the others have. We cannot accept this sort of legislation because it goes against the very existence of our community. Because our community depends on the faith that is handed down from generation to generation, if we are denied the right to run our educational institutions, or the right to appoint teachers of our choice, then that would be tantamount to destroying our community. So it is a matter of survival that we have to say that the present legislation is not right. We have appealed to the courts and the courts have more or less supported us. But the government is trying in its own different ways to bypass the verdict of the courts and impose its own conditions on us. Our educational institutions are open to all. But we have to give preference to our students because they can be supported in their faith and their culture only through our educational institutions. This the government is not accepting, our right to admit our own students. Secondly, the fee structure proposed by the government is very unjust because it imposes an additional burden on our students. We have to fight for our rights but we have to do it through democratic means, not through violent means. We cannot go back on this because it is a matter of survival for us. The State government is saying that the government-imposed rates should be the norm and if you go beyond that it is exploitation. What we are saying is that there should be a just fee structure and if anything is demanded beyond that, that is wrong. That is what the Supreme Court has also said. You should have a just fee structure and beyond that if there is capitation fee it is wrong.
Nowhere is such a proposition practical – you cannot ask a private institution to give free education to half the number of students.
Nobody has so far said that. Who agreed to it? Anyway, the courts later on made it clear that minorities have a right to admission and to give due preference to their students according to local needs. Take any of our institutions in the State and see how they are run. The idea has spread that if fees are levied beyond what is levied by the government, it is all malpractice. It is not true.
The government is not lifting a finger to help them. They are only demanding from the managements that they give education free, by taxing one section to give the benefits to the other,
Before that our minority rights were automatically recognised. The government did not try to interfere in our rights. There were stray attempts at curtailing our rights. But this government has made our institutions non-minority institutions through the self-financing colleges Act. And they want us to show them evidence that we are a minority. Such a thing has never happened before. In Kerala, we always had more schools than those run by the majority community. But at no time was this question raised or our minority position challenged. But these people have now challenged it. The only question that is relevant to the determination of the status of a community is whether it is numerically a minority. It is not a question of a community having a few schools or colleges. It is not like economic and social backwardness and reservation. In the case of backwardness, reservation is only a temporary measure. When they advance socially and educationally, it is no longer necessary. But minority rights are permanent. Economic status of a community or the number of institutions that they run is not a criterion for minority status. The government is interpreting it in a different way.
This impression is a creation of the media. Whenever there is a controversy the media speak to a few dissenters within our fold and project it as the opinion of the majority. Whenever there is a dispute the media bring in these people. But these people have no followers. They do not represent the majority of the Christian people. You would have noticed how the youth in Thrissur responded to our call to organise a protest march [against the government].
The courts have granted it but the government is not agreeing to it. The government overseeing admissions is all right. But the government trying to control administration is not correct. Educationally we have progressed, that is true. But there are a lot of poor people in our midst too. For example, the coastal people. There is poverty in our parishes too. Maybe 30 to 35 per cent of the people may be all right, but others are poor. But yes, comparatively we may have more institutions, but then there are also institutions that meet a social cause, like homes for the aged and the mentally retarded. We may also perhaps be a more united community. And some people may be feeling envious of us because of that.
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