HVK Archives: Schools that do not enlighten
Schools that do not enlighten - The Observer
Firoz Bakht Ahmed
()
December 5, 1998
Title: Schools that do not enlighten
Author: Firoz Bakht Ahmed
Publication: The Observer
Date: December 5, 1998
Sparsely-lit rooms (rather dungeons), dilapidated structures (or
none at all), choked and stinking lavatories, moth-eaten
furniture, dangerous fittings, unhygienic drinking water, lost
teachers and meandering students happen to be some features of
the beleaguered Urdu medium schools of India.
Most of these Urdu medium schools continue to be on these lines
even after having completed half a century of undistinguished
existence along with the glorious Golden Jubilee of India!
Apart from some 30,000 madrasas, there are around 10,000 Urdu
medium schools all over the country languishing in their
ghettoised culture. They are like permanent fixtures closed to
change.
What is most shocking Is that year after year their results
remain the same - just pathetic. Last year, the results of 60
Urdu medium schools in the school leaving examination conducted
by the Andhra Pradesh Board was a mere zero per cent. The all-
India level is slightly better - that is around 23 per cent!
Pass percentage of Delhi over the last two decades in the board
exams of Urdu medium schools fluctuates between 20-27 per cent,
while in Rajasthan and Bihar the failure rate is identical to
Delhi's, i e 76 per cent.
If in Maharashtra and West Bengal, the results are better (about
55 per cent), it is worst in Madhya Pradesh where the pass
percentage last year was just 23 per cent.
A detailed analysis on the part of the author who also mans the
Maulana Azad Taleemi Tanzeem, meant for the uplift of Urdu
medium schools, depicts that it is a vicious circle which is
responsible for the sharp decline in the falling academic levels
of the Indian Muslims.
Most of the teachers at these schools are found to be
lackadaisical regarding the most onerous task of imparting
education. Besides, the parents too remain numb and totally
unconcerned about the education of their wards.
As if this is not enough, the management bodies of already
victimised backward institutions act as parasites rather than
rejuvenating the system. On top of that, the state has always
turned a deaf ear to the travails of these hapless Urdu medium
schools.
The poor segments among the Muslim students feel that their
schools were fully and completely responsible for their
disastrous failure. According to them, the principals and the
teachers are least concerned about what was going on in the
school parameters.
In fact it was also brought to light that there was a nexus
between the managements, principals and the state authorities to
annihilate these schools. Most of these Urdu schools are aided
by the government where they receive a grant of 95 per cent.
Five per cent Is to be arranged by the managing committees.
Some Muslim intellectuals and educationists like Professor A M
Khusro, Dr Rafique Zakaria, Hakeem Abdul Hameed, Syed Hamid and
Prof Mushirul Hasan feel that the main cause of the educational
backwardness amongst Muslims Is the complete lack of enthusiasm
and spirit to excel in the academic field.
Prof Gopichand Narang, a renowned Urdu critic and essayist, is
of the view that the absence of the right kind of leadership
after Maulana Abul Kalam Azad has resulted In the form of a
pathetic educational panorama.
The so-called Muslim leaders kept on diverting the real issues
of Muslims from educational, social and economic uplift to the
political ones like the Babri Masjid, Shah Bano, AMU's minority
character, etc. They only furthered their interests by wheeling
and dealing in electoral politics while leaving the community to
the mercy of God.
Muslim intelligentsia, wholly and squarely, is to be blamed for
this poor show In their community's schools. What Is to be
lamented is that if this cross-section of the society would have
been a bit concerned, a lot of improvement would have been
there.
But being wen paid, satiated and enjoying political patronage,
the Muslim intelligentsia right after the partition remained
completely unmindful of what was happening in Muslim schools.
Children belonging to all the privileged Muslim families never
studied in their own schools. Rather, they opted for Christian
missionary schools.
Even they failed to learn a lesson from the Christian minority.
Their missionary institutions are still the best - be it
Welhem's School or Sherwood College. The only few historical
institutions Muslims have are all infested with the epidemic of
internal rifts, corroding politics and corruption, including
north India's oldest running 300-year-old institution, Anglo
Arabic School.
The rot starts right in the primary sections of Urdu medium
schools. The students passing out of them do not find seats in
the middle or secondary and senior secondary schools as they
hardly know how to write their names even. Secondly, there is
no provision of Urdu medium in most schools.
Many teachers of these Urdu schools have their own sorry tales
to be told and wrongs that are never redressed. They complain
that there is absolutely no follow-up at home. In fact, once
having got their wards admitted to a school, the parents never
return, not even when the child's name is struck off the rolls
owing to long absence. This is not an exaggeration. For example,
many parents contacted in some of old Delhi's ghettos didn't
even remember the name of the school their child was admitted
to.
A few members of the managements of some Urdu schools felt that
their wings were clipped as they had no authority to take major
corrective steps. A classic example is Delhi's Anglo-Arabic
School. For the last couple of Years, the school has worn a
completely dispirited look. With a lacklustre, inefficient and
inactive principal at the helm of affairs, nothing different can
be expected. The irony is that the management couldn't remove
him, despite his proven incompetence. The rules and regulations
for these schools need amendment and review.
Quite a few of the Urdu medium schools do not have their
buildings even and they are run under the azure skies. Most of
these schools do not have their Urdu texts in subjects like
science, geography, mathematics, etc. Every year it happens that
the texts fail to reach the market till the examinations are
over. Some conscientious teachers help the students by
translating the matter from Hindi or any other regional texts.
This is only the tip of the iceberg. Every school has at least
about 10-12 Vacancies in the teaching strength. But they remain
unfilled. So what happens after all is that history teachers
teach English and chemistry teachers take on mathematics. This
is a common trend.
There is also hardly any Urdu school that has a playground or
sports facilities. This is hardly surprising, considering that
extracurricular activities have never been the strong point of
either Urdu schools or their mostly feckless principals.
Now they are erecting an Urdu University in the name of Maulana
Abul Kalam Azad in Hyderabad. But the question is how and from
where the ambitious university will he fed, considering that
most Urdu medium schools are abysmally below the standards. If
this Urdu University is to run, Urdu schools have to be
rejuvenated. When the all-India representation of Muslims in the
professional courses is a paltry one per cent, this University
will be a mere ivory tower for all the people drafted into the
various faculties.
As a minority community, Muslims can't afford to be mediocre and
spiritless. True, they should love Urdu. But at the same time
they must also perfect themselves in two other languages, namely
English and a regional language. Otherwise, there's a danger
that India may prosper and its Muslim minority may remain
primitive and uneducated.
But more than anybody else, it is the responsibility of the
Muslims to see that the community marches ahead with enlightened
education. If they don't learn from the lessons of history, they
themselves are to blame!
Back
Top
|
