Author: M.V. Kamath
Publication: Organiser
Date: January 29, 2006
URL: http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=115&page=18
Isn't it time, sixty years after becoming
Independent, for India to give up this business of minoritism and get on with
life like one whole nation and one whole people? How long are we going to
treat Muslims, especially, as a minority with special reservations in government
jobs and special provisions for admission to education institutions?
The Allahabad High Court has termed as incorrect
the provision granting minority institution status to the Aligarh Muslim University.
The Court went to the extent of saying that Aligarh University is not a minority
institution and the fifty per cent reservation being extended to doctors in
the University's post graduate courses is illegal and incorrect. That is a
correct decision.
India is secular and in a secular country
no distinction can or should be made between people of one religion and another.
The principle of reservations was originally upheld on the grounds that Muslims
are educationally backward and need support. That may have been true at one
point in time but how long are we to stick to that proposition? As it is,
a certain section of Muslims does not seem anxious or willing to join the
mainstream. The children, especially of the poor are being consciously sent
to madrasas which, according to some accounts, have in recent times become
training grounds for terrorists. No exact figures are available of the number
of madrasas in the country. Estimates vary.
According to a report in The Economic and
Political Weekly, the Hamdard Education Society has tried to do a survey of
madrasas but has not succeeded. That is indeed remarkable. One estimate is
that there are around 60,000 madrasas in the country, but, apparently there
are madrasas and madrasas. A small number, it is stated, are affiliated to
madrasa boards or state boards of education. The exact figures is not indicated.
But a second variety, according to reports,
show an incredible variety according to their syllabi, faculties and above
all, their sectarian affiliations. They jealously guard their independence
and do not tolerate any outside interference. India is a free country and
it is well nigh impossible for government to order what should be taught in
a madrasa, so long as no anti-national teachings are ingrained in the minds
of the children. As a matter of fact there is no reason why Muslims should
not send their children to regular government-run schools.
The Draft Bill on Free and Compulsory Education,
2005 affirms the goal of "providing all children opportunities of access
to, participation in and completion of elementary education of equitable quality".
The Bill does not specify that equitable education should be provided to children
of any one caste or religion. By definition the equitable education is open
to all. Where, then, is the necessity of opening separate schools for Muslim
children?
It is no argument to say that madrasas are
meant to inculcate the true spirit of Islam in the minds of Muslim children.
Islam, or, for that matter any religion is something that is best taught at
home. By attending government run primary or secondary schools Hindu children
don't cease to be Hindus. One can understand a handful of schools strictly
intended to train young Muslims to become mullahs and to conduct religious
rites. That would be quite in order. We have Christian seminaries and even
some Sanskrit pathashalas that are meant to keep society well supplied with
priests. But to set up madrasas to teach children right from childhood how
to be Muslims is to keep them deliberately out of mainstream.
According to those who have made detailed
inquiries into madrasas, Fiqh (Islamic Law) holds a central place in their
curricula. India is not governed under Islamic tenets. The Mughal Empire ended
in 1857. If any law is to be studied, it is the law currently prevailing in
the country.
According to the report in The Economic and
Political Weekly, even a casual glance at the madrasa curricula would go to
suggest that they have no relevance for modern times. The entire purpose of
setting up madrasas is self-defeating. It is shocking to hear that some madrasas
teach only Hifz, that is, memorisation of the Quran. How can children receiving
such education make any meaningful progress in these modern times of Information
Technology? Why blame the government if Muslims don't make it to the top or
fail even to get jobs? The medium of instruction in madrasas is reportedly
Arabic though in some Shia madrasas it is Persian.
Are Muslims-especially the very poor among
them-living in a make-believe world? How does the study whether of Arabic
or Persian help when the living languages in India are Hindi and English and
more especially English?
Even more tragic, according to the EPW report,
in many madrasas a rather parochial approach is adopted and children are not
expected to read any outside material other than what is prescribed. If the
EPW report is to believed, "boys are punished or even run the risk of
rustication if they are caught reading any outside material". This is
tragedy beyond compare. Reason, experimentation, experience and verification,
all integral to modern knowledge apparently find no place in the madrasa educational
system. Is it any surprise, then, that Muslim children, unable to withstand
competition, seek reservation in schools, colleges and universities? And is
it not only natural that Muslim youth, unable to make their way through life
for lack of a sound modern education should turn to terrorism? The point is
made that not all Muslim children attend madrasas and that those who do, come
from the economically under-privileged classes, especially because education
in madrasas is not only free but a significant proportion of those who attend
get free boarding and lodging.
The whole cycle is self-defeating and self-destructive.
A truly secular government-and the UPA pretends to be one-must make valiant
efforts to convince Muslims, rich and poor, but especially poor, that if they
do not keep up with the times, failure is written in their lives and they
will have no one to blame but themselves. If Muslims want to survive in a
harsh, competitive world, they would have to mend their ways. Madrasas and
modernity do not go hand-in-hand. In a secular world a Muslim can still be
a good Muslim. Islam and modernity are not antithetical. And the sooner Muslims
attempt to get out of their self-created shells, the greater would be their
chances to rise to the top, even without reservations. And greater would be
their contribution to society and the entire nation. A word to the wise should
be sufficient.
