By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: “We are not going to even touch madarsa education system. I want to assure you that RTE Act doesn’t cover and won’t hinder madarsa education,” said Union Minister for HRD, Kapil Sibal.
Mr. Sibal, who was addressing a huge gathering of Muslim Ulama and educationists at the daylong conference on Challenges of Compulsory Education here on August 5, ruled out any amendment in the RTE Act, but assured the gathering comprising mostly clerics to issue ‘guidelines having power no less than law’ to dispel their apprehensions. The clerics were chanting the slogan of ‘madarsa in danger and thereby Islam in danger’ since the conference organized by Jamiat Ulema-I-Hind began.
“Door door se hamara koi irada nahi hai. (We don’t even dream of interfering in your rights), he assured the gathering of religious scholars.
RTE Act doesn’t name Madarsa
Ironically, the Act doesn’t mention madarsa even a single time. Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, along with many other Muslim organizations has been opposing the RTE. But the grounds of opposition are based more on “assumption” than facts or on what the organization views as “possible threats to the existing Madarsa system.”
Ironically, even Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind accepts that the Act doesn’t cover Madarsa. Its press release clearly says;
“It is not far-fetched to assume that all such institutions not falling within the preview of the Act who engage in educating children of 6-14 years, irrespective of being a Madarsa, a Pathshala, a mission school or any small private poor Mohalla school catering to the poorest of the poor and ever present and the parents of such children could be accused of breach of law and as such liable to be prosecuted..”
But it is threatened by potential and ‘possible’ threats. In the concluding paragraph of the release Jamiat says; RTE Act is not Madarsa specific. Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind concerns and questions raised are also not Madarsa specific. However, the possible threats to the existing Madarsa system and violation of minority rights guaranteed under Article 30 (1) do require focused discussion.”
It feels that it should be very clearly mentioned, that Madarsa education system is not covered by the Act otherwise “it will be open to interpretation and thereby misuse by the officials and may result in the harassment of Madarsa”.
Liberal Muslim voices unhappy
The minister may have agreed to make the clerics happy but the fact is that community is divided on this issue. A section among the Muslims is not happy at the exemption of Madarsa education system from the ambit of the Act.
This class of Muslims, which claims to be liberal and progressive, feels that Muslim clergy has been resisting the inclusion of Madarsas in the legal ambit of RTE Act because any outside interference will threaten its monopoly over Madarsa education and thereby, eventually over its monopoly of the community itself.
In order to get the feeling TCN talked to few Muslim educationists who had come to attend the Conference.
Vice Chancellor of a Deemed University, who didn’t want to be named, saw this as “an excellent example of creating panic by raising threat alarm like ‘madarsa in danger and Islam in danger.”
Talking to TwoCircles.net, he termed it as “successful strategy by the Muslim clergy to ward off any outside interference and thereby any attempt of reform the Madarsa education system.”
“The inclusion of Madarsa into the scope of RTE Act will jeopardize and loosen the Mullah’s grip over a large section of Muslims,” said Syed Noushad Ahmad, a professor in AMU, who also attended the conference.
He accused Madarsa of “preventing poor Muslims from getting secular education as it will awaken the community from the slumber that they want the community to remain into.”
Hitting hard at the Muslim Ulemas Mr. Ahmad pointed out that “one needs to understand that Madarsa education produces millions of Muslim youths on yearly basis and eventually creates a class, which is their core political constituency. Muslim clergy doesn’t want them to get secular education because after getting secular education they will start asking questions.”
“Once this class awakens, the very legitimacy of Muslim Ulama will be in danger and so will be their socio-political privileges. Mr. Mahmood Madani knows this fact quite well, that he is of some value for Indian political class only till the day he is able to mobilize lakhs of illiterates Muslim youth on the street. The moment ordinary poor Muslim who go to Madarsas stops following him, his whole political identity, along with that much valued Rajya Sabha membership, will be endangered,” added Mr. Ahmad.
More concerned about non Madarsa going children
Mr. Sibbal emphasized more on giving secular education for the minorities, so that the children of the community can realize their full potential and thereby can enable the community to become a part of the mainstream economic development of India.
Referring to Sachar Report, he said that the level of literacy among Muslims and the drop-out rates are really very disturbing and needs to be corrected.
“If we set aside religious education, then what can we offer to the community? We want every Muslim child to have access to education and be able to compete with the best,” he added.
“Right to administer and not maladminister”
Constitution of India provides the religious minorities, the right to “administer” minority educational institutions and not “mal-administer” them, said Mr. Sibal who was responding to the proposal of Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind, of setting up a minority education Board, on the patterns of CBSE and ICSE.
He doesn’t have any problem if Ulema want to create a new Board for their religious education, provided it should confirm to good standard of teaching and curriculum, he said.
On his part, Mr. Mahmood Madani, the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind leader, said that “the community shouldn’t get complacent at the promise of guidelines and that is why the Jamiat will keep the movement for amendments in the RTE Act going.”