Christianization Of Education-Editorial

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It is the age of quota for Indian education. If you are in India and wants to enter an excellent educational institution, it is not your academic merit that determines your admission. Next to the ability to pay a huge donation, you must belong to a backward religion or to the prime religion of the concerned educational institution. Now comes the twist. In India majority of the prestigious colleges are established by Christian Missionaries.

The ever looming issue of the christianization of education caught the fire when, St Stephen's College in Delhi hiked 10 percent Christian quota for admissions. Along with the backdrop of agitation over the OBC reservations, majority of the qualified students fear that their admission will get affected. They feel that their only drawback is belonging neither to a converted religion nor to an OBC group.

When we analyze the top 10 Art colleges of India, 9 of them are Christian owned institutions. The Christian institutions have their major share in other professional education also. When the 70% of the Indian colleges are owned by the Christian believers with a tendency to promote religious quota, the scenario raises an alarming concern.

Most of the non-Christian students who have educated at a Christian institution has many bitter experiences to share. It ranges from the partiality to Christian students to forced studies of Christian religion. Many non-Christian students have to pay huge donations at times for the welfare of the Church or the concerned institution, despite their high ranks in the qualified exams. They also face the threat of conversion as they may have to visit the churches, despite their will.

Christianization of education never ends here. If you want to pursue your career in academics, your religion will determine the ultimate qualification. In Christian colleges, like Baldwin's in Bangalore, the first question that you may face for the interview is "Are you a Christian? If not, What's your caste?"

There are many people who support this christianization of education. They highlight the beneficiary acts of the missionaries, who have started these institutions. They also point at the so called discriminations in other Hindu and Islamic educational institutions. They believe that being the successors of the Christian missionaries, who have brought the education to India, Christians have all the rights for quotas.

India is a secular country, is that not? As an Indian citizen we all have our own individual rights. When we boast secularism, why should we build up the walls while moulding the future citizens? You have the answer! Let us voice it out.