Christians feel need for new organization to protect schools

Christians feel need for new organization to protect schools

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Feb 9: The mainstream Protestant and the Catholic organizations of India, which run a total of 5000 educational institutions in the country, have decided to jointly form an organization in New Delhi to take up issues related to the protection of their educational institutions. 

According to Church sources, this decision had to be taken in the wake of the attacks on Christian life and property in Mangalore and Orissa during the previous year. Majority of the NCCI representatives are from mainstream Protestant churches in India. The Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) represents the Catholic Church in India.

Bishop T Sagar, the president of the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) said that the authorities of the Catholic Church have long felt the need for a representative body to take up issues on behalf of its educational institutions. He said that the time was now ripe for the representative body to take shape. 

Fr. Babu Joseph, the CBCI spokesperson in New Delhi, said that the organization, which is now in its formative stage, will soon go public and help resolve various issues faced by the Christian institutions in India. He said that the representative body will enable Christian authorities to take up policy issues with the Central government and also bring its attention to the problems that the organizations face in various states. 

Christian educators feel that the new organization will come to the rescue when their schools are pressurized by vested interests or attacked by political parties. The organization is meant to function as a central Christian organization for education issues. 

Catholic sources also reveal that, although prominent Christian schools and colleges located in the heart of cities have access to government and political parties at the state level, they lack access to the central government and political parties at the center. Besides, a number of small town and rural Christian educational institutions feel that they need to access the Center.