Gujarat 's Christian-run schools deplore state choice of teachers

(March 22,2011) In India’s western Gujarat State, managers of Christian-run or aided schools, have expressed their dismay at a recent state regulation that puts the appointment of all teachers and principals in the hands of the government. Under the new law, a Gujarat government staff recruitment committee will make the appointments. According to the February regulation, the committee will comprise government officials and educationists, and will have no representative of the school management. Previously, appointment of teachers and principals was done by the school management. “We recruit teaching staff, keeping in view our own vision and mission and this will not go well with us,’’ said Fr. Paul Raj of Rosary School at Vadodara. “It amounts to interference in our institutions,’’ remarked Fr. Fernandes Durrai, principal of the Ahmedabad-based St Xavier’s School. He said the minority institutions, including those belonging to Christians, had the Constitutional right to run their educational institutions. “It may not go well with our vision of education, he added.’’
Ahmedabad-based Sanjay Vincent, a Catholic, running the Centre for Education Development Research and Action NGO, said: “Christian and other minority institutions will suffer badly if the new rule is imposed. There is a likelihood of recruitment of teachers with an anti-minority bent of mind which could prove detrimental,” he added.