By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net
New Delhi: After the Sachar Committee report – which exposed backwardness of Muslims in India in every sphere of life including education – a comprehensive study conducted by the University Grants Commission (UGC) has now established the fact that the largest minority of the country has lagged far in higher education.
The Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in higher education is the highest for Christians at 19.85% followed by Hindus at 13.13% but the Muslims are at the lowest – among religious communities – at just 7.7%, finds out the 293-page report titled “Higher Education in India: Issues Related to Expansion, Inclusiveness, Quality and Finance.” The study which began in the middle of 2006 took almost two years to complete and was made public in November 2008.
The report, which examines socio-religious disparities in higher education enrollment for the first time in such detail, will form the basis of the 11th Five Year Plan strategy for higher education.
Among the religious communities Sikhs are at No. 3 with 12.69% in GER while Christians are ahead of all religious groups in overall enrolment in higher education as well as at graduate level.
Gross Enrolment Ratio by Religious Groups, Age Group 18-23, 2004-05
|
Religious Group |
Total Higher |
Total graduate |
|
|
Male |
Female |
Total |
Male |
Female |
Total |
|
Christians |
19.72 |
19.98 |
19.85 |
17.21 |
16.02 |
16.60 |
|
Hindu |
15.19 |
10.86 |
13.13 |
13.07 |
09.32 |
11.29 |
|
Sikhs |
10.77 |
14.99 |
12.69 |
09.01 |
12.54 |
10.62 |
|
Muslim |
09.09 |
06.16 |
07.70 |
07.77 |
05.81 |
06.84 |
|
Others |
20.26 |
14.77 |
17.74 |
18.09 |
12.25 |
15.40 |
|
Total |
14.42 |
10.57 |
12.59 |
12.42 |
09.11 |
10.84 |
|
|
|
Christians |
31.55 |
34.00 |
32.69 |
27.32 |
26.67 |
27.02 |
|
Hindu |
27.48 |
24.74 |
26.27 |
22.80 |
20.52 |
21.79 |
|
Muslim |
11.08 |
09.76 |
10.49 |
09.44 |
09.04 |
09.26 |
|
|
|
Christians |
13.01 |
13.86 |
13.46 |
11.47 |
11.37 |
11.42 |
|
Hindu |
09.58 |
05.62 |
07.64 |
08.63 |
05.09 |
06.90 |
|
Muslim |
07.60 |
03.90 |
05.78 |
06.52 |
03.78 |
05.17 |
If we see rural-urban divide among the religious communities in higher education we find urban Christians and urban Hindus have registered about a three-fold rise in GER but this is not the case with Muslims. The total GER of urban Muslims is 10.49% and their rural counterparts are at 05.78%.
When we take into account the gender disparities among the religious communities we find that Christian women at 19.98% are more than three times higher in GER than Muslim women who are at 06.16%.