The Madrasa controversy

Madrasa Controversy:

Maharashtra government has said that Madrasas, which do not teach primary subjects such as English, Maths and Science, would be considered as “non-schools” and children studying in them as “out of school” students which has led to a controversy.

For parents mired in poverty and forced to work long hours with limited breaks, madrasas serve a vital role in ensuring their children are supervised, fed and taught to read and write.They have played this role in the subcontinent since at least the 11th century when Islam spread to the region. In more recent centuries, they have bred major schools of Islamic thought.

Madrasas have produced free-thinking luminaries such as Alberuni, Ibn Sina and al-Khwarizmi.They also produced America’s best selling poet throughout the 1990’s, the 13th century Sufi mystic and poet of love and longing Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi, who was trained as a Muslim jurist, and through out his life taught Sharia law in a madrasa in Konya.Maulana had rejected the rigidity of thought and spirituality characteristic of the ulema of his day, but he did so as an insider, from within the system.

The government is allegedly sure that the children at Madrasas are made to treat Islam as the only religion that they should practice. “Madrasas are giving students education on religion and not giving them formal education. Our constitution says every child has the right to take formal education, which Madrasas do not provide,” State Minorities Affairs Minister Eknath Khadse told PTI (Press Trust of India).

“If a Hindu or Christian child wants to study in a Madrasa, they are not allowed to study there. Thus, Madrasa is not a school but a source of religious education. Thus we have asked them to teach students other subjects as well. Otherwise these Madrasas will be considered as non-schools,” said Khadse, a prominent leader in Maharashtra

The School Education department has planned a survey of students on 4 July, that are not taking formal education .  “Students who are studying in Madrasas that do not provide formal education will be treated as out of school students. Our only aim behind doing this is, to ensure that every child of the minority community gets a chance to learn and come into the mainstream, get good paying jobs and have a prosperous future,”Khadse said.

“We are even ready to pay Madrasas for giving students formal education and are ready to provide them teaching staff as well,” Khadse said.

Education is rated among the highest concerns of Muslims in the world.

Vinod Tawde said the government will not curtail any funding to madrasas as the state survey is not linked to any other objective. “Madrasas where the national curriculum is already being followed will not be considered as non-schools. However, the government will provide them a curriculum wherever there is none,” he added.

Later, Tawde tweeted, “Teaching of core subjects is as per RTE norms under which, children not taught under National Curriculum framework are considered out of school. Teaching of core subjects like science, mathematics alongside religion in Madarasas is aimed at betterment of students, & not to hurt religious feelings.”

But even before the RTE Act came into force, the HRD ministry had put in place what is called the Scheme to Provide Quality Education in Madrasas (SPQEM).SPQEM stresses on strengthening formal curriculum subjects like science, mathematics, language, social studies etc.Even science laboratories are to be opened as per the scheme.

The most important part of the ‘mainstreaming’ exercise is that madrasas have been linked to the National Institute for Open Schooling (NIOS). As a result, children studying in madrassas will get certificates for Class V, VIII, X and XII.

The menace of growing educational backwardness through Madrasas that everybody is afraid of, can be checked only by providing a progressive, modern alternative with a promising future for the younger generations, writes Arjumand Ara, a teaching faculty at the Delhi University.

This is actually true because studying only about religion will not help you further in your life. Not saying that religion should not be taught, it should be but along with the formal subjects which are the basis of progressing and moving ahead in life.

Photo Credits : Sandeep.jgupta and commons.wikimedia.org