Indian Muslims are a hot topic today. They are debated about by intellectuals, researched on by academics and talked about by politicians of all persuations. While all these have contributed in making the Muslim plight known, concrete steps are yet to be suggested or taken to uplift the Muslim community, educationally and economically. No one knows what the Government is going to do in the years to come for improving the pitiable conditions of Indian Muslims.
Governments all over the world have their own compulsions. It is not just in India, but elsewhere also, that the question of minorities and their specific problems seem to have caught the imagination of concerned people. There was a time when intellectuals would talk about integrating minorities into the mainstream. Today the course of debate has changed, and people talk more about preserving the identities of minorities and protecting their rights. What has happened to minorities in America and Europe and what has been happening to them in India and other developing countries have put the minority issue to the front burner.
As pointed out earlier, Governments would decide and act in their own way. Surely, there are issues which could be solved only through the State’s intervention, specially in social sector. But mainly it is the minorities themselves, their leaderships in particular, which have to take initiatives and design programmes that would serve and advance their educational and economic interests.
The Muslims of India are specially called upon to take bold initiatives and work hard for ameliorating their plight. Over the years a post Partition Muslim middle class has gradually emerged, and it has to play the vital role in regenerating the Muslim community in India. In both advanced and fast developing countries the middle class is very important. It is a link between the rich and the poor, understands their specific attitudes and problems and tries to keep the society united.
The emerging Muslim middle class in India has a very big role to play. Their role would not be confined to keeping the Muslim society together. Rather, it has to be more pro-active and has to specially employ its mental abilities to articulate the Muslim view points on a number of crucial issues.
Muslims’ educational backwardness would suggest to many that the community has stopped doing what Sir Syed Ahmad Khan had prescribed for it. As a result there is no educational renaissance among the Muslims. Not only Muslim enrolment is low, the Muslim community is also far behind in setting up its own schools and colleges, specially in Northern India. Surely, there was a time, even in post partition period, when a good number of Muslims set up schools some of which have not only survived but have also developed and become centres of learning upto intermediate and graduation levels. One reason why many schools died before maturity is that they failed to get government recognition, either because of discrimination or because they did not fulfil certain necessary conditions. The need of the hour, therefore, is to open new schools in such manners that they would not face difficulties in getting government recognition. Efforts should also be made to relax some rules for schools located in densely populated areas.
But what the community needs the most is launching an educational movement that would impress upon the Muslim parents to necessarily send their children to schools. They must not only go to schools, but it should also be ensured that they do not drop out early. This is such a task that only a committed middle class can do with the cooperation of both the rich and the poor.
Another great task that the Muslim middle class must undertake is the enlisting of support from the fair-minded Hindu brethren. There are large number of Hindus who believe in the lofty ideals of socio-economic equality, removing illiteracy and improving the conditions of the marginalized. Such fair-minded people are found everywhere, and many of them are already working for educational and economic welfare of the Muslims. The Muslim middle class must cooperate with them, encourage them to increase their activities and help their marginalized fellow countrymen.
What the Muslim community has to realize is the fact that education is the key to all round success. The Muslims must avail the educational facilities that either they have created or have been provided by the state. They would do even better, if they open more and more schools.
[November, 2005]
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