Christian schools in India stage mass strike
-04/04/06
700 missionary schools in India
Christian schools in India stage mass strike
-04/04/06
700 missionary schools in India will strike today (Tuesday) in protest at a bill which would make in mandatory for state-aided schools to recruit their headteachers through a government body.
The school authorities say that the suspension of classes is part of the first phase of protests against the School Service Commission (Amendment) Bill 2006 which was passed in the Indian Assembly on February 20.
The bill would make it mandatory for state-aided minority schools to recruit teachers and headmasters through a body known as the School Service Commission.
Schools run by the Catholic churches, including the Don Bosco group, Loreto branches, Holy Child and Christ Church, as well as those run by Jesuit Brothers, will take part in the strikes.
ìIf the bill is not withdrawn in the first Assembly session after the elections, we will fast unto death,î said Herod Mullick, general secretary of the Bangiya Christiya Pariseba (BCP).
Apart from the BCP, many religious bodies, like the GNLF, Madarsa Studentsí Union, Confederation of Dalits and Minorities and All-Bengal Minority Youth Federation, are backing the strike.
Father Faustine Brank, a spokesperson for the West Bengal Association of Christian Schools and a Roman Catholic priest, said the state government had passed the bill without consulting the church authorities.
The church schools who are opposed to the bill say it infringes on the rights granted to them in the Constitution. ìThe founding fathers of the Constitution had carefully included some guidelines under Article 30 to safeguard the character of the missionary schools. The government cannot take away those rights,î asserted Brank.
Christian schools in India stage mass strike
-04/04/06
700 missionary schools in India will strike today (Tuesday) in protest at a bill which would make in mandatory for state-aided schools to recruit their headteachers through a government body.
The school authorities say that the suspension of classes is part of the first phase of protests against the School Service Commission (Amendment) Bill 2006 which was passed in the Indian Assembly on February 20.
The bill would make it mandatory for state-aided minority schools to recruit teachers and headmasters through a body known as the School Service Commission.
Schools run by the Catholic churches, including the Don Bosco group, Loreto branches, Holy Child and Christ Church, as well as those run by Jesuit Brothers, will take part in the strikes.
ìIf the bill is not withdrawn in the first Assembly session after the elections, we will fast unto death,î said Herod Mullick, general secretary of the Bangiya Christiya Pariseba (BCP).
Apart from the BCP, many religious bodies, like the GNLF, Madarsa Studentsí Union, Confederation of Dalits and Minorities and All-Bengal Minority Youth Federation, are backing the strike.
Father Faustine Brank, a spokesperson for the West Bengal Association of Christian Schools and a Roman Catholic priest, said the state government had passed the bill without consulting the church authorities.
The church schools who are opposed to the bill say it infringes on the rights granted to them in the Constitution. ìThe founding fathers of the Constitution had carefully included some guidelines under Article 30 to safeguard the character of the missionary schools. The government cannot take away those rights,î asserted Brank.