Govt, Muslim Leadership Urged to Improve Muslims’ Educational Condition

Govt, Muslim Leadership Urged to Improve Muslims’ Educational Condition

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August 10, 2022

The waves of educational development which swept over South India a couple of decades ago, unfortunately failed to reach North India. The nation cannot prosper if a particular area or community is kept aside to avail the government’s fruitful schemes, said K. Rahman, Deputy Speaker, Rajya Sabha in his inaugural speech in a two-day All India Muslim Educational Conference organised by All India Educational Movement, New Delhi in collaboration with U.P Rabita Committee, Aligarh at Hamdard Convention Centre, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi on February 27-28.

Rahman further said, “If the Muslims remain educationally backward, this will create problems in the country’s progress. The Union Government is sincere regarding education of Muslims and has been trying to improve it through various educational programmes.” He appealed to the Muslim Community to create the sprit of standing on their own feet and devote their abilities and resources to educational development so that a better society can be shaped.

Mohibul Haque, Director, Central IT College, Guwahati, shared his experience of ERD Foundation’s education development activities in Assam. He remembered that a decade ago a study centre of Sikkim Manipal University was established by his endeavour in a backward area of Assam with a few students in order to remove hurdles of pursuing education by the Muslim students. He said today by the benign mercy of Allah and cooperation of friends this has now developed into an IT college where almost 5500 students are studying. A majority of students are Muslims. God willing, the college will soon become a University.

The conference was organised mainly to access the educational condition of the community, to improve the pitiable condition, to increase literacy, to foster collaboration and cooperation between government departments and agencies and Non-Government Organisations.

The conference analysed that both the government and the Muslim Community are equally responsible for the backwardness of Muslims. It demanded from the government and the community to take necessary actions to improve the condition of Muslims.

To promote education, the conference ventured an idea to establish a large number of NGOs in every village and town, and sought that a system should be developed to inspect that no child is left without admission in school, and no admitted child leaves the school before getting proper education. The students should avail the benefits from the government’s educational and economic schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Navodaya Vidalaya, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya, Kendriya Vidyalaya and various scholarship schemes.

The conference assumed that there would not be any improvement in the educational condition of the Muslims until they devote themselves in the mission of educational development. The conference demanded from the Muslim intellectuals, ulema, educationalist, reformers and thinkers as well as the leaders of the social and welfare organisations to include educational development programmes in their agenda and try at every level to promote education for Muslim students, so that the Muslims may render into reality the Quranic concept of Khari-e-Ummah (Best Community).

The conference demanded from the Union Government as well as the State Governments to take concrete steps to promote education in Muslim areas. The best way is to establish primary and middle schools in large numbers in Muslim areas and to practically implement educational schemes which are recorded in Official Papers.

The conference demanded from the Governments to make it easy for Affiliation of Muslim-managed schools, and also to stop the behaviour of the narrow-minded officers who create troubles in the name of Legal Formalities at the time of granting affiliation.

The conference also demanded to establish such information centres in Muslim areas where all kinds of information regarding school education as well as detailed information regarding employment opportunities would be readily available. These centres should arrange information regarding government schemes and how to fill the forms and apply for good schools and colleges so that the elite as well as general Muslims may be benefited.

The conference demanded from the Government to implement, without coming under any pressure, the recommendations of the Ranganath Mishra Commission and Sachar Committee as early as possible so that the educational and economic conditions of the Muslims can improve.

The Conference said that the proposed Central Madarsa Board would not be beneficial to the Community unless the management of Muslim Religious Institutes like Darul Uloom, Deoband, Nadwatul Ulamah, Lukhnow, Jamia Ashrafiyah Mubarakpur and Muslim representative institutes like All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Islamic Fiqh Academy, etc. are satisfied.

It should be ensured that the doors of religious educational Institutions of Muslims will not be open for the government to interfere in its (Madarsa’s) affairs and Management.

The Conference welcomed the Right to Education Act 2009 and thanked the Ministry of HRD as it has started the implementation of compulsory education. According to this Act, it is compulsory for the children of 6-14 years age group to go to school and complete education up to class VIII.

The conference demanded from the government to constitute a Monitoring Committee consisting of Muslim educationists, intellectuals, Ulema, officials of educational institutions, persons associated with educational organisations to improve the standard of Muslim Managed Educational Institutions.

The conference demanded from the government to make easy process for scholarships for the minorities and other educational and welfare schemes so that the students may actually be benefited.

Urdu is our mother tongue. So it is our responsibility to protect and promote it. The step-motherly behaviour meted out to the Urdu language after independence on National and State levels is the living proof of bigotry and ill-will against it. The Urdu language, like Urdu medium schools, faces different problems. The conference held the Central as well as the State Governments responsible for it. The conference also demanded from the community to make Urdu their mother tongue in real sense and in order to make it their cultural heritage and linguistic identity.

The Conference was sponsored by some active NGOs, namely Zakat Foundation of India, New Delhi, Sir Syed Foundation, Delhi, Muslim Youth Cultural Association, Orissa, Maharashtra Cosmopolitan Educational Society, Iqra Education Society, Maharashtra, IMEFNA, (USA), Hamdard Educational Society, Delhi, FLAME and Bihar Rabita Committee, Al-Siddiqia Trust, Orissa, and Muslim Educational Trust, Delhi.