| PUNE,
India (UCAN) -- Bishop Valerian D'Souza of Pune has taken the Maharashtra state government
to court over a new educational policy that allegedly curtails minority rights. [...]
The Maharashtra Pre-School Centers (Regulation
of Admission) Act 1996 stipulates that 80 percent of the seats in preschools and
kindergartens must be filled by neighborhood children regardless of religion, caste or
sex.
[...]
Catholics view the provision as a government
move to control student admissions to their schools. Bishop D'Souza said the new act
curtails minorities' right to administer their own educational institutions as guaranteed
by the Indian Constitution.
[...]
The act has divided Pune's academics, with some
hailing its egalitarian approach and others condemning it as an indirect attack on
minorities by a pro-Hindu government.
Madhuri Deshpande, among those who recommended
the act, says it is simply an attempt to regularize preprimary admissions by helping
children to "just walk over to school irrespective of being rich or poor."
[...]
Bishop D'Souza admits that the new act
favors the child and the parents as it tries to abolish donations as a criterion for
admission and removes parental anxiety over interviews.
"But our school management must retain its
right to the final selection of students," he said.
[...]
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