In India Kerala Professional Colleges Act will be amended to protect minority rights

(02 Nov. 2006) : Kerala Congress chief P.J. Joseph made his party’s stand clear in a press conference on Monday that protection of constitutionally guaranteed minority rights for Kerala Professional Colleges Act –KPC Act- should be ensured while implementing the provisions of the Act. He said the KPC Act, which came into force from July 1 this year, would be operative only after making necessary amendments to protect the rights of minority community. Mr. Joseph’s Kerala Congress is a partner in the Left-headed coalition government in Kerala.

Meanwhile, the Inter-Church Council for Education headed by the Archbishop Joseph Powathil of Changanassery archdiocese, has written to Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthananan seeking deletion of provisions in the Kerala Professional Colleges Act, relating to determination of minority status of private self-financing professional educational institutions and procedure for admission. Furthermore, Mr. Joseph, alleging that most of the banks, especially private institutions, were adopting a negative approach towards granting educational loans, called upon the public and private sector banks to reduce the interest rate on education loans to four percent. If the request was not heeded, the Kerala Youth Front would launch an agitation against alleged negative attitude of banks, he added.