Towards Better Prospects for Madrasa Graduates

There was a time when everybody seemed to be “concerned” about the state of Madrasa education and the graduates it was giving to the country. An impression had been created that Madrasas were the main centres of Muslim education in India. Our critics held our fascination with Madrasas as being responsible for our backwardness. The non-BJP governments rushed to modernize Madrasas ignoring the Sangh Parivar’s allegation of minority appeasement. Many Muslim intellectuals became “Milli” leaders overnight for championing the cause of Madrasa education.

But today only lip service is being paid to Madrasa education. To be true, it has yet not disappeared for the public memory and the government, too, has made allocation in the budget for modernizing Madrasas. But the enthusiasm at the level of a part of Muslim leadership is missing. Ever since the revelation made in the Sachar Committee Report that just about 4% of Muslim students population studies in Madrasas, the kind of Muslim leadership alluded to above has gone into hibernation. They have not offered any explanation for their inactivity.
Given the size of Muslim population in India, even 4% of its student community is a big number and must continue to be important attracting the attention of the government as well as the Muslim leadership. There is no reason to ignore Madrasas at this juncture.

It is not our case here to judge the merit of various ideas and schemes for Madrasas. We just want to emphasize the point that Madrasas are the only source of education for a good number of people. There is no denying the fact that there are Muslims who can afford modern/formal education for their children and yet they send them to Madrasas out of conviction. But the large population consists of those who are poor; some indeed living below the poverty line. A few years ago this writer had carried out a survey in select districts of U.P for Unicef, Lucknow which proved beyond doubt that the parents of an overwhelming majority of students studying in Maktabs belonged to the disadvantaged groups. This fact alone should be compelling both for the government as well as the Muslim leadership to continue with their attention and focus on Madrasa education.

Human genius has never been tied up with riches. That only the children of rich parents or students of good public schools will excel is a wrong notion. We do accept the fact that good education is a key to success. But sometimes good education is acquired in adverse circumstances as well, in Madrasas for example and not necessarily in famous public schools. As a result we see many Madrasa graduates excelling in various fields of life. For over two decades Madrasa graduates have been getting admission in some modern universities like AMU, Aligarh, Jamia Millia Islamia and Hamdard University in Delhi. Recently, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi has also recognized the degrees of some Madrasas for admission to some of its courses. Many more universities need to follow the examples set by the above-mentioned institutions of higher learning because this would open a window of opportunity for otherwise disadvantaged students. This gesture would also bring them in mainstream educational institutions and enable them to join the national mainstream.

Madrasa graduates normally get admission in courses of Unani medicine, arts and social sciences. Some directly get admission in Masters Courses of Arabic language, Islamic Studies and Theology. These students are fortunate in that they have found an opportunity to study in modern universities. But one can easily realize looking at the programmes of study they are pursuing in universities that even their modern degrees will have little market value. We concede that knowledge in itself is valuable. But we also insist that it should be “enabling” as well. That it should enable students to find a place in today’s market to earn their livelihood.

Madrasa students face many problems in universities which are of emotional, psychological and intellectual nature. All these cannot be addressed here, but one of them is indeed pressing and deserves our immediate attention.

Many Madrasa students, as mentioned above, get admission to M.A in Islamic Studies and Arabic language etc. Apparently, it might be pleasing for them that they are going to get their Masters so soon. In reality, however, they close many opportunities on them. The problem is that the one and the same Fazeelah degree is recognized as equivalent to B.A in one university and to +2 in others. As a result the Madrasa graduates with M.A without B.A have just one option of pursuing Ph.D programme which is not available in large numbers.

A Madrasa student pursuing a B.A programme, on the contrary, has many opportunities of higher education. On the basis of good performance in subsidiary subjects at B.A level, he can seek admission in all M.A programmes of Social Sciences and humanities. Also he can opt for such professional courses as B.Ed, BTC, B.Libb, and some programmes in journalism, computer application and mass communication etc. The need, therefore, is to strengthen graduate programmes of Arabic and Islamic studies with a view to helping Madrasa students for better prospects.

[July, 2009]

For Quality Education in Government Schools

Sunday Times of India (June 14, 2009) carried out a revealing report on class X results: “Free Vs fee: Why govt. schools deliver results”. The write-up has been penned analytically by Divya A of Times News Network. A picture accompanying the write-up shows two different worlds of government-run and public schools. On the left side are students of a government school sitting on ill-kept/broken benches under a tree and on the right side are students of a public school sitting in an air-conditioned class room in front of a computer. The picture tells all except the results of this year’s class X examinations.

The Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNV) are government aided schools; though administered by the Human Resource Development ministry, these schools are substantially autonomous. This year JNVs have outshined all other schools with a pass percentile of 97.8 in CBSE class X exams. Kendriya Vidyalayas or Central Schools are a close second with a pass percent of 96.3 whereas the public schools—many of them air-conditioned—have fared poorly with only 92% of their class X students passing out this year’s exams.

JNVs and Central Schools are somewhat “privileged’ schools which are run with special government attention. The government schools which crisscross the country, especially in slums and villages are indeed in bad shapes. It is in these schools where teachers are normally absent and parents of wards studying in them are equally helpless as they suffer from intellectual and economic poverty. These schools, too, have improved with a pass percentage of 80.1 which was 4 or 5 percent less the previous year. The improvement is a direct result of government’s threat to teaches that they deliver or perish.

Anyone who is acquainted with the conditions prevailing in Government-run schools in rural India, knows well that children studying in them are severely handicap on many counts. Compared to public schools, these schools have hardly any facilities. Misery upon misery, most teachers are indifferent to the future of their students; they are either absent or hardly teach when present. The poor students thus hardly get any encouraging or congenial academic atmosphere at schools. Their problem is further compounded when they go home. Their parents are mostly illiterate or semi-literate and thus fail to provide any academic assistance to their dear ones. Being intellectually poor, they also fail to pressurize teachers to do the job that the Government has assigned to them, and for which they are paid. In such discouraging circumstances the poor students perform poorly and gradually march into a bleak and distressing future. They either drop out early or get an education which hardly helps them.

The Government opened JNVs and Central Schools to provide quality education to the under-privileged students. But such schools are few and far between. Therefore, the Government must focus on improving the quality of education in schools located all across the country, mainly in small towns and villages. Bulk of India still lives there and most parents are dependent on poorly-managed Government schools for the education of their wards. Forcing teachers to be present in class rooms has worked to increase the pass percentage from 75 to 80%. Motivating parents to take interest in the education of their wards, saying it alone would secure a bright future for them might be equally or even more helpful.

But the Government’s real job is to equip these schools with necessary facilities. Here the teacher is the most important factor. He needs to be paid properly and on time. He also needs to be motivated to perform. Above all, teachers must be impressed upon to be more than teachers; they must also be the guide of the parents of the wards given in their care. Perhaps only the teachers are in a position to inspire and motivate parents to create an “academic atmosphere” at home by giving their children enough time to do the home works. The problem, in fact, lies at this level and it needs to be solved here in order to prevent children from dropping out of schools. A healthy and quality primary education is necessary to perform well at the secondary level. In the given circumstances, it is a tough goal to achieve which makes it necessary for the Government to pay special attention to it.

One way to address the problem is to provide incentives to the teachers and principals to motivate parents to help their wards remain in schools. They may be further rewarded if their schools perform well. District level schemes, for example, may be launched to give out of turn promotion or cash incentives provided 50% of their students secure first class or no enrolled student drops out of schools due to parental indifference. Many more methods may be thought out to change the fate of the poor through education. This is Government’s duty which it must fulfill. This important work can not be left for social reformers yet to be born. We can not wait for miracles to happen; rather we must create miracles by our performances.
[June, 2009]