St. Stephen's College proposes quota for Dalit Christians

India's leading educational institution, St. Stephen's College in New Delhi has proposed to reserve 10 percent of the total number of seats for Dalit Christians, 2007 onwards, in its effort to promote "social justice."

Even as the whole nation awaits the decision of the Supreme Court of India (SC) on the issue of recognition of Dalit Christians as Scheduled Castes for the purpose of entitling them to reservation benefits, St. Stephen's officiating principal Valson Thampu has proposed reservation of 40 percent of the total seats for students from the minority group, 25 percent of which will be reserved for the Dalits within this group — i.e 10 percent of the total number of seats.

According to the proposal, 40 percent will be reserved for the non–minority group and 15 percent for socially underprivileged non–minority students, including SC/ST/OBCs, while 5 percent will be for sports quota.

If the proposal is approved by the Supreme Council of the college, for the first time, the institution will admit at least 40 Dalit Christians out of a total of 400 students at the undergraduate level.

"More than 80 percent of the total Christians in north India are Dalits and our aim is to make room for such socially underprivileged children," national daily, The Times of India quoted college principal Rev. Valson Thampu as saying.

"There is a saying by a German philosopher Goethe, if only every man would sweep his own doorstep, the whole city would be clean. So, you take care of the poor in your community and let me take care of the poor in my community," Rev. Thampu said.

In 1992, in the case of St Stephen's vs. Delhi University, the Supreme Court had directed that being a minority–aided educational institution, the college should reserve at least 50 percent seats for the minority group while the remaining were to be filled by non–minority students. However, the college apparently admitted 30 percent of the total number from the minority group with the rest going to the non–minority students, including five percent for the sports quota. And most of these students belonged to upper class Christian families.

"This new equation will finally give a fair chance to everyone in the minority group, irrespective of social disparities. And we are also providing room for socially underprivileged from the non–minority group. We cannot be fairer than this," Rev. Thampu said.

Admitting that he was falling short of the SC mandate, Rev. Thampu said, "I am willing to face any consequences." Asked if reservation of seats for Dalits would affect the "prestige" of this elite institution, Rev. Thampu said, "I am not excited about the prestige of the college, I am committed to social justice. I expect cooperation from my faculty members, and it would be a tragedy if teachers and educators turn deaf to social justice."

However, the college is likely to have a different selection process for the Dalits. "We are studying the modalities to have a lower cutoff for Dalit Christians. Each such applicant will be interviewed by me to prevent any discrepancy in the process," said Rev. Thampu.

The cut–off percentage for Dalit Christian students would be only 60 per cent, the lowest for all courses in the historic college.

"We cannot lower it further in order to maintain the academic standards of the College," Rev. Thampu said.

Those Dalit Christians who qualify for admission would be provided financial assistance, Rev. Thampu said, adding that the college "will explore all avenues to make the stint of Dalit Christian students in the college burden–free."

"But we are yet to decide whether that should be in the form of scholarships or fee waivers," he said.

The proposal has been approved by the Supreme Council. "We have been trying to provide room to the socially underprivileged of the minority group for long but things could not materialise for some reasons," Supreme Council chairman Bishop Karam Masih said.

"If one is not admitted into one's own home, then it is really unfair," he added.

"The decision of the Supreme Council of St. Stephen's College is in keeping with the demand of The Church of North India and the National Council of Churches in India for extending special reservation to Dalit Christians to overcome social and economic disabilities experienced due to caste based discriminations," Rev. Enos Das Pradhan, general secretary, Synod of the Church of North India and chairman of NCCI Commission on Polity and National Governance, said.

"The initiative of the Church of North India related St. Stephen's College Delhi in granting special reserved seats to Dalit Christians should encourage all the church related schools and colleges in the country to make special provisions for granting admissions to the students with Dalit Christian background," he added.

The Church of North India (CNI) will help in disseminating the information through its own network to invite applications from the Dalit candidates.

The prospectus of the college, however, does not carry the latest proposal.

"The proposed reservation for Dalits will be legally feasible as long as they are doing it within the minority quota," said senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, adding that the college is unlikely to face any legal problem about the proposal.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) president Cardinal Telesphore Toppo has released the "All India Catholic Education Policy 2007" at the CBCI headquarters in its effort to reach education and knowledge to the marginalised, especially Dalits and Tribals.

According to Cardinal Toppo, education is the "key to the development of India" and Catholic Church has been playing a critical role in it. He said education is an integral part of the "mission of Church."

The Cardinal pointed out that unless the "poor and marginalised are educated India cannot be a developed country." He said the Church has always cooperated with the governments in furthering education and the government in turn must support "church's effort to bring education to the masses."

Executive secretary of the CBCI Commission for Education and Culture, Fr. Kuriala Chittattukalam said it was the "first time the Church in India has brought out a policy with regard to Education. So far Education was left to the different religious congregations and the dioceses to interpret and follow the directions and inspiration of the Great Teacher and Master Jesus."

"[We welcome] the proposal of St. Stephen's College for allotting a percentage of seats to the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Christian students. EFI affirms this move as Stephen's is a minority institution and we hope that other minority institutions will also follow suit," Rev. Richard Howell, general secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) said in a press release.

All India Christian Council (AICC) president Dr. Joseph D'souza and secretary general Dr. John Dayal have welcomed as 'historic' the move by the St. Stephen's College to give preferential admissions to brilliant students from the Dalit Christian community in the prestigious institution of higher learning.

St. Stephen's College, they noted, has become the first Church–constituted Institution to take this long–due affirmative action which will go far in undoing prejudices against Christians from the erstwhile depressed classes and scheduled castes in north and south India.

Dr. D'souza and Dr. Dayal have also welcomed the Education Policy announced by the CBCI which reaffirms the commitment of the Church to the education of the marginalised.

St. Stephens college is one of the most sought–after institutions in the country and offers honours programmes in subjects like English, Economics, History, Philosophy, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry.

This year, the college received applications from only six Dalits. The BA programme seems to be a popular choice though a few have also applied for English and History.

"We have received 12 applications from six Dalit candidates and most of them have applied for the BA programme. A couple of them have also applied for Economics, History, Physics and English," a college official said.