Bangalore: Only seven schools in the state have been granted minority status by the Department of Public Instruction, exempting them from providing 25 pc free seats for children from economically-weaker sections of the society under the Right to Education (RTE) Act.

These seven schools have been granted the status based on the new, contentious definition, which requires a school to have 25 pc students belonging to a particular religious or linguistic minority community.

Four of the schools are in Mangalore, namely Prestige International School (Muslim), Raj Academy (Tulu), Sharada Vidyanikethana Public School (Tulu) and Sharada Vidyalaya (Tulu). Sri Lakshmi Janardhan School in Udupi has been declared as a Tulu linguistic minority school. Only two schools in Bangalore – CMR National Public School in Banaswadi and AECS Magnolia Maaruti Public School – have received Telugu linguistic minority status.

The new definition of the Congress government succeeds the BJP government’s definition that required schools to enrol 75 per cent of students belonging to a minority community. The Azim Premji Foundation has moved the High Court against the new definition.

Commissioner for Public Instruction Mohammad Mohsin said, “The possibility of minority students being outnumbered is true. But there are those who ask for a 50 per cent requirement and those who cite the Constitution to stay away from any regulation. We believe that the new formula is quite fair. It would do justice to the RTE students as well.”

A total of 1,059 private schools in Karnataka have previously-issued minority certificates. The department has asked them to apply for renewal.