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The Supreme Court verdict giving unfettered rights for admission of students to unaided educational institutions run by minorities has put the Kerala government in a tight spot.
Last year, the Congress-led United Democratic Front government had liberally sanctioned colleges to minorities under its policy of opening up education to the private sector. Now it is faced with the prospect of surrendering 50 per cent merit seats as well as quotas fixed for special categories, including non-resident Indians, to the minority managements in the wake of last week's judgment.
New colleges being run by minorities have started taking in students without waiting for the government to issue orders changing the admission procedure as per the SC verdict. Curiously, the government has so far not conferred minority status on any of these colleges.
The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church Medical College at Kolencherry in Ernakulam district has informed the government that it is going ahead with admissions in the light of the SC order. The colleges that have already admitted students as per the procedure fixed by the government prior to the verdict, may follow suit next year, leaving no seats to merit candidates.
The government's objective behind opening the education sector was to ensure adequate facilities for those who wanted to pursue professional education. The new development defeats that objective.
Officials fear that admissions to minority institutions without any sort of government control will lead to commercialisation of the sector and deprivation of opportunities to the backward sections.
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