New Delhi: As many as eight educational institutions have been granted minority status by the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) this year, according to a document accessed by ETV Bharat.
The names of the educational institutions which have been granted minority status are- Elite Public School, Gateway International School and Unity Nursery and Primary School of Tamil Nadu, Vimla Devi College of Education and Lala Mahadev Prasad Verma Balika Mahavidalaya of Uttar Pradesh, Rahmaniya Public School and Shine College of Education of Madhya Pradesh, St Peter's College of Kerala and Seemanchal Minority B. ED College of Bihar.
Among the eight institutes, four are run by the Muslim community, two by the Christian community and one each institute belongs to Jain, Buddhist and Sikh communities.
In a written reply to a query in the Lok Sabha in 2019, Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, said that there are 13,555 educational institutions that have been granted Minority status by the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) till 2 July 2019. As per the government information, 39 institutes were given minority status in 2016-17, 156 institutes in 2017-18 and 38 institutes were given minority status in 2018-19.
According to section 2(g) of the NCMEI Act, a minority institution means a college or institution (other than a university) established or maintained by a person or group of persons from amongst the minority communities.
Notably, Article 29 of the Constitution protects the interests of the minorities by making a provision that any section of citizens, residing in the territory of India, having a distinct language, script or culture have the right to conserve the same. Article 30 gives the choice to the minorities to establish and administer an educational institution of their choice which means that it is upon them to choose they want to establish an educational institution that will serve their religion, language and culture.
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