Balancing secular and minority teachings

NS Kapur 

When a college has students drawn from different religious communities and backgrounds, it helps to create a more inclusive and competitive environment on the campus. That’s also good for national unity, writes NS Kapur 

The relationship between religion and secularism is a complex one. If we look into the case study of a couple of educational institutions, we see that both of these display a perspective and a vision of their own.

To begin with, we have to find out the intention of a minority community establishing an educational institution. Is it with the specific objective of the religious minority or conceived as an institution of a general character without defining itself as a minority institution?

It has been held by a full bench of the Karnataka High Court in the Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka versus State of Karnataka and Others, that words like ‘choice’, which ‘qualify’ educational institutions, show the vast discretion and option which the minorities have in selecting the type of institution they would want to set up.

Let’s take the case of Zakir Husain Delhi College and SGTB Khalsa College — both affiliated to Delhi University. Zakir Husain Delhi College is the only college offering Honours courses in Arabic and Persian. As we read the list of trustees and alumni, the college can claim minority status as a Muslim institution under Article 30 of the Constitution, but it remains a non-minority institution, unlike other Muslim institutions which have been clamouring for minority status.

Consider the case of SGTB Khalsa College. The Delhi Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee established the college in 1951 to meet the educational needs of refugees from Pakistan, irrespective of their caste, creed, culture, religion or language, in the wake of the partitioning of India. The DGPC, being a Sikh organisation, did not mention that the college had been established to meet the educational and cultural needs of the Sikhs. The Memorandum of Association and Rules and Regulations in conformity with the Model Rules prescribed by Delhi University were duly adopted by the governing body of SGTB Khalsa College. They stated that the “objects for which the college is established are: To establish, develop, and maintain the educational institution called Shri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College, Delhi (recognised by Delhi University) and to manage, supervise and administer its affairs”.

On August 17, 1973, a member of the governing body suggested amendments to the MOA so as to bring it in line with Article 29 and 30 of the Constitution. Thereupon, four teachers from Khalsa College petitioned the Delhi High Court saying that the amendments were intended to confer minority status and thus alter the character of education. The petition was dismissed as being “premature” because the management’s counsel argued that the college had simply appointed a committee and taken no decision. The governing body abandoned the proposal and the matter was not taken up in any subsequent meeting thereafter.

However, in 1975, the DSGMC filed a petition seeking minority status for Khalsa College, and resolved to amend the MOA and revise the Standard Form of Agreement already in force between the governing body and the teachers regarding the latter’s service conditions. Thereupon, four teachers from Khalsa College and four from Mata Sundri College intervened and the court admitted them as a “necessary” and “proper” party, along with Delhi University as respondents. The case went on till 2004 and was dismissed for non-prosecution. It seemed that the DSGMC was no longer interested in pursuing the minority status of the college.

But all the same, the minority question resurfaced in the Delhi High Court where the DSGMC petitioned that the college being a minority educational institution, the reservation policy of the Central Government for admission and recruitment of Other Backward Classes was not enforceable on it. The court dismissed the petition observing that the college did not fall within the definition of the expression of ‘minority educational institution’ The petition was dismissed. But the DSGMC approached the National Commission For Minority Educational Institutions and sought a certificate of ‘minority status’ in 2008. Some teachers of the college and the university then intervened to oppose the minority claim. The judgement pronounced in 2010 conferred the minority status on the college. Consequently Delhi University, joined by some teachers from Khalsa College, challenged the order, and the ball of minority character is once again in the court.

Admitting mostly Sikh students and recruiting Sikh teachers in the college prevents the entry of bright teachers and students from other communities, whose presence can create a progressive and academic competitive atmosphere. It’s also good for national unity. 

The writer is a former Reader of Political Science at SGTB Khalsa College, Delhi.

Courtesy : Daily Pioneer