Kerala   

Cardinal vows to guard rights

KOCHI: Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, head of the Syro-Malabar Church, said here on Sunday that certain moves of the State Government with regard to educational institutions violated the rights of minorities.

He was inaugurating a convention, which pledged to protect the rights of educational institutions run by minorities. The meeting, held on the St. Mary’s Basilica premises, followed a minority rights protection rally from Rajendra Maidan.

The Cardinal said that Christians had contributed much to the education and development of society, especially backward communities and women. The wrong policies pursued by successive Governments had led to the problems in the field of education.

He said handing over academic, financial and administrative controls of educational institutions to local bodies would only make them political entities and throw the entire system out of gear.

The minority communities had been granted fundamental rights to uphold their faith, customs and moral values. These rights would be protected at all costs.

He said the rights of the minority communities to establish educational institutions, admit students and appoint teachers would be protected, and any move to curb these would be resisted.

He said the latest legislation on self-financing institutions for higher education denied the existence of minority rights. This was why the minority communities approached the Supreme Court. The decision to claim right to admission in all seats in self-financing courses was taken on the basis of the court verdict.

He said the community respected the rule of law, but would not stand any violation of rights of the minorities ensured by the Constitution.

He congratulated the young people of the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese for making the rally and meeting a success.

Members of the archdiocese took a pledge to protect minority rights over their educational institutions during the Sunday mass.

Thomas Chakiath and Sebastian Edayanthrath, Auxiliary Bishops; Dennis K. Antony, general convenor of the meeting; Jacob Palakkalppally, education secretary of the Archdiocese; Joshi Vadakkan, president of the Teachers’ Guild, Thrissur; Jaimon Thottupuram, president of Kerala Catholic Youth Movement in the archdiocese; and Davis Vallooran, president of Cherupushpa Mission League; spoke.

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