Hindus always end up getting the short end of the stick under Kejriwal’s rule in Delhi. This time they are being denied access to free education. The AAP government in Delhi has made a fresh announcement- all private schools in the capital city should refund tuition fees of minority students for financial years 2020-21 and 2021-22. Private schools are now required to follow this order for all minority students from classes 1 to 12.
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And this raises some crucial questions- are only minority students the ones facing financial difficulties? And should the Right to Education be made subject to the majority-minority binary?
Delhi government to pay tuition fees for the minority student
The latest step is said to have been taken as it was ‘adversely affecting the motto of Delhi government regarding timely payment under the scheme to beneficiary student.’ Moreover, schools in Delhi have been asked to complete the verification of all such applications on the e-district portal.
The official notice also states that the tuition fee for minority students is to be paid by the Delhi government according to the guidelines of the scheme.
Asking private schools to expedite the entire process
The matter of reimbursement has reportedly come into the spotlight after some schools did not complete the process on time. The government has therefore asked for the entire process to be expedited. This is why the official circular has directed all DDEs (Zones) to collect a hard copy of the certificate from private schools after its online verification.
The AAP government in Delhi is therefore showing some sort of immediate urgency for reimbursing the tuition fee of minority category students. While the government is likely to pass it off as a measure of its supposedly world-class education model, the move does raise questions about the inherent discrimination involved. The question that arises here is if there is any rationale whatsoever behind excluding the majority?
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Why shouldn’t all EWS students get the benefit?
Now, if you include the minority in the present move and exclude the majority, it simply seems to suggest that the government thinks that only the minority students need government assistance. However, that is clearly not the case. There are several students in the majority category who belong to financially deprived families and who need financial assistance from the government.
On the other hand, there will be minority students from comparatively prosperous and self-sufficient backgrounds. They do not need any financial assistance from the government. And this is exactly where the Delhi government’s direction to reimburse minority students becomes problematic.
And this is exactly why a category called the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) exists. When students from across communities have been facing hardships due to the Pandemic, it would have made sense for the government to give such benefits to all such students irrespective of their religion or caste.
But then, this is a tried and tested way of political mobilisation in the country. Many parties have resorted to such minority appeasement in the education sector through reservations and other bizarre means like arranging the tuition fee. And now AAP is adding up to its list of controversies with a similar move of clear minority appeasement.