Title - Educational Rights of Minorities: A Socio-Legal Analysis

Abstract

This paper examines educational rights of minorities in special reference to Muslim minority. Justice, liberty, equality and fraternity in human life comes through education. Article 45 of the Constitution of India says education to the children below the age of six years. Article 21A states education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years. The Constitution protects cultural and educational rights of minorities by Article 29 and 30. Article 29 envisages the protection of the interest of minorities and Article 30 confers the ‘right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions’. The term minority is not defined in the constitution. Various judgments of the Apex Court held that any community religious or linguistic which is numerically less than 50 percent of the population of the State, covered by the expression “minority” and is entitled to fundamental right under Article 30 of the constitution. The researcher has identified that in spite of having the constitutional mandates for minority education; especially the Muslim minorities are educationally backward and deprived of education till date. Census 2001 shows literacy rate of Hindus 65.1 %, Muslims 59.1%, Christians 80.3%, Sikhs 69.4%, Buddhists 72.7%, and Jains 94.1%. This proportion is less amongst Muslim. The objective of this research is to investigate the reason of the educational backwardness and unequal share of empowerment in connection with education of the Muslim minority and give a probable solution of it. Research PlanThe researcher has completed this research within one month. Firstly the researcher has made an extensive study over this area and then shorted out this topic with utmost care. For the doctrinal part of this research the researcher has taken 10 days and for non-doctrinal study to collect data the researcher has taken also ten days and each day the researcher has interacted with open ended questions in semi-structure interviewing to the respondents. Each day the researcher has interview 10 respondents. For writing the report, tabulation, interpretation and preparation of this article it takes 10 days. Total one month has been devoted by the researcher to complete this gigantic work.Research MethodologyThe research is carried on by both doctrinal and non-doctrinal methods. By doctrinal method the researcher tried to analyze legal proposition, legal framework and census data in logical and systematic manner. Under the non-doctrinal method the researcher adopted the qualitative method and data is collected by open ended questions in semi-structure interviewing to 100 respondents of Village-Daspukur, Post-Khondoghosh, District-Burdwan, PIN-713142, West Bengal to investigate the reason of educational backwardness of the Muslim minorities selected on the basis of ‘purposive’ sampling. Research Question for Doctrinal Study1. Who are minorities?2. What are the social and political roots of becoming minorities?3. What is the scope of minority right under the Constitution of India?4. Whether are minorities getting legitimate share and adequate space in the field of education and empowerment?5. Whether are minorities educationally backward for poverty? 6. Whether are both the Central and State government depriving the Muslim minority by not caring this community for education and not carrying forwarding the factual data and statistic of their social and educational backwardness into the programme of affirmative action?Research Hypothesis Basically minorities are a group of person of ethnic origin who are less in number with having a race, religion, language, traditional culture of its own and in a non-dominant position in a State. In India there are social and psychological differences between majority and minority communities and there is a great inequality and disparity between majority and minority communities in relation to educational attainment. The relative share of minority in connection with employment in public and private sector is under represented than majority. Especially the Muslim minorities are socially and educationally backward in comparison to the other minorities and majorities. They are not getting legitimate share and adequate space in the field of education and empowerment due to unequal social policies of the Central and State Government. Furthermore Muslims minorities are educationally backward for poverty and ignorance for education. To bring JUSTICE, LIBERTY, EQUALITY and FATERNITY reservation in the field of education and empowerment and special package for education for the Muslim minority is urgent.Open Ended Questions in Semi-Structure Interview for Non-doctrinal Qualitative Method of Study to the Respondent1. What do you think about the educational backwardness of the Muslim?2. Why are the girls ill-educated?3. What do you feel about the need of the reservation for the educational upliftment of the Muslim?