Bengaluru: Archbishop Bernard Moras of Bangalore on Thursday expressed his concern over the ‘rapid saffronisation’ of the education system in the country and the slow disappearance of secularism in educational institutions.

Addressing the 17th All India Association for Christian Higher Education conference here on Thursday, the archbishop said India was a multicultural society and the education imparted at Christian institutions was for all. He said the institutions were not only imparting education, but also preparing the future generation to become the leaders of the nation.

He said though it had been more than six decades since the country attained independence, nearly 30 per cent of the population did not have access to basic education. However, he said, South India was fortunate enough to have a large number of educational institutions.

H G Dr Jacob Mar Irenios, Metropolitan of Kochi, Malankara Orthodox Church, urged the leaders of the Church to contribute to improving the quality of education. Rev Dr Prasanna Kumar, secretary and bishop-designate, Diocese of Central Karnataka of the Church of South India, was also present on the occasion.