Alarm bells are ringing once more as influential groups are trying to whip up crowds over the language issue and admission to catholic colleges. There is a cynical manipulation of these explosive issues going on. If left uncontrolled, it may seriously undermine national unity.

We shudder to think of the consequences that a campaign based on propaganda, not facts, might lead to in this volatile period of heightened ethnic tensions. Yet, some people have no qualms about spreading totally unfounded rumours. Priests and other ecclesiastic personnel are not necessarily among the more sober people who are striving to build bridges of understanding.

During the ongoing campaign, one is often presented with deeply flawed arguments or with facts, which are indeed fantasies, dangerous fantasies. For instance, there is hardly any truth in the assertion that candidates sitting for the oriental language papers will now get easier access to state secondary schools. Had those bent on stirring trouble spent time on reading up to date documentation, they would have learnt that almost all of the 2,000 or so students likely to get an ?A? grade in Hindi would have scored an aggregate of 25 points anyway.

One senior church official goes to the extent of fuelling speculation about the possibility that the marking of hindi papers could be entrusted to a socio-cultural organisation. In a display of false naivety, he raises the matter in the form of a question during an interview given to a Sunday paper. He knows that he can lend credence to this rumour by using the technique of an interrogative sentence. Another priest states offhandedly, in the same paper, that oriental languages ?ont la même valeur que l?anglais?. This of course is absolutely false.

If even clergy administrators fail to have an enlightened view about the educational crisis and join the frenzy created in the wake of the Privy Council?s decision, there is then serious cause for worry. It is true that catholic schools have a compelling array of arguments to support their case for 50% reserved seats. But then the Law Lords do not prevent them from keeping their ?specificities?, however spurious this expression may be. In fact, there is hardly a handful of catholic pupils who have been affected by the amended criteria out of a total of 1,500 admitted in catholic schools.

Church leaders have used a seductive blending of religion, politics and identity issues to arouse anger against government leaders following the judgement that ensures nondiscriminatory access to catholic schools. But one suspects that much double speak surrounds the whole subject. For instance, there is a claim for promoting creole language in the school curriculum but ?dans les églises on fait croire aux créoles que le français est une langue supérieure à la langue créole?. Such statements, coming from a catholic priest, highlights the class divisions among church followers. The vindicative attitude adopted by catholic leaders against the State might be part of a strategy to call for unity in the face of adversity. Never mind if middle-class families have benefited most from admission policies in force up to now..

There is now no escape for church-operated schools, forced to exercise an ?option préférentielle? in favour of the poor and admit more children from ZEP schools. But this is precisely what the Ministry of Education suggested in November 2002.