MINOTIRY STUDENTS BEING DISCRIMINATED IN GUJARAT SCHOOLS: HASHMI

Shabnam Hashmi, a newly-appointed Central Advisory Board for Education (CABE) member, said, “After 2002 there have been instances when minority students have been struck off the school rolls and there are some schools where children from minority communities do not get admission.” She was speaking at a discussion on implementation of Right to Education (RTE) in states.

The CABE meeting included educationists, directors and vice-chancellors from various universities, state education ministers and officials and HRD minister and officials. No sooner had she finished that Gujarat education minister Ramanlal Vora retorted, “Gujarat has 32,000 primary schools. You cannot speak like this... please name the schools....’’ Sensing that the situation could get acrimonious, Kapil Sibal, who was chairing the meeting, pacified Vora and Hashmi to send him the names of the schools. “If there are cases of discrimination, we will look into it,’’ he assured both. Hashmi later said that she would send the names and photographs of schools.