Mumbai: While a row has erupted over the Mahayuti government granting minority status to 75 schools across the state hours after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief and former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s death on January 28, data from the school education department shows that more than 50% schools in and around Mumbai are classified as minority institutions.
Out of a total of 1,736 schools across the city and suburbs affiliated with various education boards, 950 schools – or 54.43% – are classified as minority institutions; among these, 40 schools obtained minority status in the past five years, data accessed by Hindustan Times shows.
As per existing rules, an organisation can get minority status if at least 50% of its management members belong to a minority community and its memorandum allows it to function as a minority institution.
As reported by HT on February 17, between August 2025 and January 27 this year, not a single school was granted minority status. But within four days of Pawar’s death in a plane crash at Baramati on January 28, minority certificates were issued to 75 schools across the state, triggering a row. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis subsequently ordered a high-level investigation into the matter while the official who allegedly signed the certificates was transferred pending the inquiry.
Officials from the schools education department said on condition of anonymity that the number of minority schools in the city had spiked sharply in recent years as the minority tag helps them circumvent the 25% quota for students from the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, which is applicable to non-minority institutions.
Shivnath Darade, executive member of Shikshak Parishad, a teachers’ organisation, concurred with the officials, saying once a school gets minority status, it is exempted from certain provisions of the RTE Act such as the 25% quota for EWS students, and appointment of teachers via the state government’s Pavitra Portal.
Representatives of school managements also acknowledged the same, with some saying that while they had been running schools for years, they had not applied for minority status earlier.
“Financial stress and delays in reimbursement of fees for students admitted under the 25% RTE quota forced us to seek minority status seven years ago,” an administrator of a minority school told HT on condition of anonymity.
The aid provided by the state government to minority schools was hiked from ₹2 lakh to ₹10 lakh in 2024, which further incentivised schools to seek minority status, Darade noted.
“According to the government resolution dated May 27, 2013, the minority status of a school can be revoked if it fails to enrol at least 50% minority students for more than four years. The government must conduct a probe to check if these conditions are being followed,” Darade said.
Darade also claimed that there was no coordination between the minority development department and the school education department while granting minority status to schools. “Approvals should be given only after proper communication between the two departments,” he said. “Minority schools must also be required to enrol 25% EWS students and appoint teachers via the Pavitra portal.”
Sanjay Taydepatil, chairperson of the Maharashtra English School Teachers Association, said that while the government was not reimbursing fees of RTE quota students to school managements on time, it was strictly enforcing RTE rules on schools.
“This situation is pushing schools to seek alternatives. Many institutions that are run by minority organisations had not applied for minority status even after the RTE Act came into force. But they are doing so now due to continued financial pressure,” Taydepatil said.