Islamic contributions to the world is a historic fact. Islam has contributed in the field of education as well. Two considerations in this regard need special mention. Firstly Islamic education system, Madarasa is accessible to one and all without any discrimination. Secondly, Madarasa system has institutionalized education throughout the Islamic world. Educated through the system Muslim scholars ruled the world of knowledge and wisdom for centuries. They excelled in the area of trade, medicine and engineering sciences. The same high quality Madarasas have also been established in India by the Arab immigrates and rulers.However, the Madarasa system started experiencing major distortions since the British rule. With the loss of patronage from kings and Nawabs and the negligible support for almost two centuries, the Madarasa system striving for resources lost the momentum of education and glory. The reduced quality of education and eroding credibility reduced the base of community contribution of Madarasas as wellThus an institutionalized system of education that served the world par-excellence is in shambles in India, just because of lack of resources. The system if revived and strengthened could provide a vital boost towards the achievement of our constitutional obligation of ‘Universalization of Primary Education’. Education department has rightly initiated this endeavour of addressing the issue of providing primary and upper primary education through these Madarasas.

Thus in the right the state level interactive workshop was planned. To have basic understanding of issues to be discussed in the state level workshop, four district level workshops have been planned. These four districts have been randomly selected from the list of twenty districts that have Muslim population over 20 percent of total population. These workshops were conducted in the following districts.

 The number excludes participants from education department and invited resource persons

Basic Education Curriculum: The purpose of conducting these workshops was to gather basic fields information pertaining to education of Muslim girls. Intense discussions were held regarding the Madarasa education in general and “education of Muslim girls in particular. Most of the representatives agreed that the idea of providing basic education to the Muslim girls is gaining ground in the community either through Maktab/Madarasas or formal schools or through extension education. Many of the Madarasas informed that they already have the basic education curriculum in their respective Madarasas. Those not having the basic education curriculum, have express their willingness to adopt the same.

 Willingness to change: 

Pondering over the issue of willingness to change, these people expressedly agreed & shared that there is demand from the community regarding the school education in general and English, life shills and dress code in particular. They themselves agreed that there is a need to change. However, their perception towards the possible change was comparatively blurred.Despite the awareness, there was lack of urgency. It appears that lack of regular and sustainable support system on the one hand and lack of competence on the other hand has led to undermining their vision regarding the possibility of growth.

 MEERUT: In all the districts all the participants without exception apprehended that bigger opening up of Madarasa education system and accepting funds/held from the government will jeopardize their autonomy. Mr. Liyakat Ali, Gram Pradhan, Barka of district Aligarh suggested that too much interaction and introduction school education might lead to quality deterioration of the existing education system. He insisted that the presence of Government teacher, with lesser sense of involvement & accountability, long wait for the supply of free books, discontent due to limited and irregular supply of educational scholarships might change the overall environment of the Madarasa and thus lower quality of education. Mr. Israr Hussain from Mawana District Meerut was of the view that with the initial help the government and the education employees will start dictating their own terms and will hinder the Islamic education.

 ALIGARH: The perception of the representatives of Madarasa towards education Department of their respective district was relatively at lower ebb. Mr. Riyazul Hasan from Saharanpur sharing his past experiences told that interacting and seeking help from education department is very difficult. He said, “jab bhi hum log kisi kaam se shiksha vibhag jaate hain to voh bahut aasani se kah dete hain kal aana. Ham log community se jude log hain isliye shahar jane ke liye roz roz madarsa band nahin kar sakte; isliye humara koi kaam nahin hota hai”. Mr. Akhlaq from Saharanpur district, Mr. Masood from Inchouli Meerut had similar complaints. Mr. Salman Ahmad openly declared, “Saheb sab scheme bekar hai”. Saheb koi kaam ka suvidha shulk mangta hai”. “Hamare madarase ki zarurat hi nahin poori hoti to hum suvidha shulk kahan se dain”, isliye hame kuch nahi milega. Almost similar views were presented in all the four districts about the Department of Ministry Welfare too.

 SAHARANPUR:

 Factual Information: While interacting with the Madarasa representatives it was found that on the basis of levels of operation these may be divided into four categories.

1. Maktab (very small religious teaching units) located in the densely populated lower income strata and primarily dominated by muslim community localities working either from the mosque of that area or from rented small house. Mostly these Maktabs are unorganized and the sole responsibility of community and normally teach Holy Quran, Hadith and Nazrat. Formal school education is mostly a missing link into these Maktabs. 
2. The second level of Madarasa act like the feeder institutions to the bigger Madaris like Baitul-Ulum, Devband and Nadwa Lucknow. Say a course of five years at Baitul Ulum Deoband may be completed in two phases. The child may undertake first three years course in local Madarasa at his own place and for remaining two years he joins the parent institutions.

(iii)    The third type includes those Madarasas that impart school education with Islamic education.

(iv)   The Fourth type of Madarasas is highest education for Islamic education like those at Deoband, Lucknow, etc. 

During the course of interaction, it was realized that First to Third level of Madarasa are more willing to opt for modern and mainstream education. The fourth type is more rigid and are in the missionary mode for the spread of Islamic education alone. Of the three type of Madarasa, the lowest level of Madarasa does not understand the need and urgency of basic education. The remaining two types understand pace of education growth but it appears that even these institutions do not feel urgency of the same. Further, Madarasa representatives during course of interaction appear to be ignorant about the government schemes that facilitate educational help. For instance, they had no idea about subject and pedagogic training, Anudeshak, school grant, TLM grant, etc. , though they need these interventions for ensuring quality education.

SAHARANPUR: They are numerous unmet needs of Madarasa while the avenue/ source of funds are also multiple. SSA suggests that supply will not be a constraint while department of Minority Welfare has multiple schemes starting from civil work to scholarship and other interventions. Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment or Agha Khan Foundation also extend free access to their schemes. However, Madarasa have little knowledge about these avenues. They appeared much frustrated as to how to know about these avenues/sources and seek help. M. Akhlaq of Saharanpur says, “Pahli bar aap se sun rahein hain ki koi scheme hamari (Madarasa ki) madad ke liye hai”.

Recognition of Madarasa:Another issue raised during discussion pertains to recognition of Madarasa. They say that it is not only an expensive issue but is also a tedious and time taking process. Mr. Idress from Rampur shared that ‘about Rs. 7000/- is the charges for recognition plus the suvidha shulk (convenience charges). Running from pole to pole during the process of recognition lead to closer of Madarasa on that day which is objected by community. These repeated visits to offices are not possible for these people. They want systematized help and a scale based well-defined rating system for recognition so as to avoid corruption and harassment.

Education of Muslim Girls: How many girls go to school, how many of them dropout and what is the number of girls who never had the opportunity to visit a formal school are the issues not explored yet. Thus, the magnitude of problem is no known. In the absence of this information the contextualized plan and place/community specific intervention cannot be developed.“Religion/rituals hinder girls education in Muslim community is a myth. Now the perception of community is to necessarily provide education to girl child”, is the expression of Mr. Mateen Khan, Pradhan Tappal, Aligarh. Parda is a non-issue for small girls ready for primary education. Islamic education – Holy Quran and Hadith are the most basic priority for girls. Urdu is further attraction and pressing demand from the community particularly for girls.

Many of Madarasa representatives shared that in their respective localities the girls’ enrolment is lower due to non-availability of separate toilets for girls. However, Madarasa still cater educational needs of large number of girls coming from Muslim community. Thus it spears that if girls’ specific interventions are to be given, the initiative may be commenced from Madarasas catering education needs of girls coming from the town.

 Modernization:Modernization is another issue that popped up in these workshops. All representatives without exception expressed their willingness for modernization but the sense of urgency was found missing. Many of Madarasa representative told that they have already applied under various government schemes but have forgotten since then. They feel that government only promises, raises hope but the promises/schemes never materialize. Madarasas aspiring for modernization do not have a formal support system. They several lack in terms of resources. They are also skeptical about peace-meal and erratic help from the government. Once we receive government help, the community contribution shrinks as they say that government is now running Madarasa. In case the government aid stops in subsequent years the community blames corruption on the part of Madarasa.

 It is also important to note that Imam (Teacher) comes with the Islamic knowledge alone and often lack subject knowledge. Despite best of his intentions and even if all willing to impart school education it is practically impossibly for Imam to coupe up with all the subjects and justify teaching to the full. An Anudeshak in every Madarasa and subject and pedagogic training is felt to be necessary to ensue effective school education in modernization.

Government Teachers:Given the resources constraint, the idea of having government teacher/ anudeshak for subject teaching was raised. They discarded this idea on the ground that this teacher in all likelihood will work like any other primary school teacher and will abscond from duty of and on. They apprehended that since he will draw salary from government exchequer, he will not be under control of Madarasa management.

RAMPUR: The very survival of Madarasa depends on goodwill, quality education and consistency of efforts of Imam and management while the teacher of the government payroll will be more duty bound towards education functionaries rather that Madarasa management. His neglect may disturb the time table and hence may adversely effect the goodwill of Madarasa and consequently eroding the community support and contribution. 

 Equivalence of Courses:Another grievance raised was that various levels/courses being taught at Madarasa do not have clear equivalence vis-à-vis the formal education systems. It largely depends on the sweet will of the formal schools whether they recognize a particular course and gives admission to subsequent class or they reject the Madarasa education at all. There is an urge that a committee comprising community people and government representative be constituted for course equivalence. Once decided they feel, should be adhered to the full.

Scholarship:Scholarship is being offered to us in a way that our students may not avail it this is how the community feels. They say, “only 40% of scholarships are awarded against the total enrolment. This create difficulty for Madarasa as to whom to give scholarships and to whom to not to give. Secondly, parents know that scholarship is Rs. 300/- p.a. while we finally get lesser amount (balance goes as Nazrana). There appear to be three ways to handle this situation–

(i)         To adjust this amount of nazrana by giving lesser number of scholarships – this is risky      .

(ii)        By giving lesser amount (actual amount received) to children but this is objected by the community.

(iii)       To compensate the nazrana amount from other sources – they don’t have sufficient recourses to do so.

Thus, practically, seeking scholarships from the government for their students is more of a problem rather than an incentive. It needs to be assured that a hundred percent release of scholarship is done against the total number of students enrolled.

Information technology:There is almost a run for the idea of taking of IT facilities into Madarasa system. They all shown interest and willingness to have computers. They also demand for the internet facility. They are also open to the idea of receiving training on this account.

MEERUT:Mr. Haroon of Meerut had proposed for the development of website that may facilitate information transparency and faster flow of information from upward officers to Madarasas. Secondly, it was felt that through this site they may also record/monitor recognition, book distribution, scholarship distribution, etc. There was demand for development of education material in Urdu on CDs. Since the Madarasa system has lesser number of teachers therefore children may use these CDs while teacher might be concentrating on the selected students for the remedial teaching. 

 Teaching Pedagogy:The Madarasa system even today primarily concentrates on the cognitive domain of the child by ensuring memorization of Quran and Hadith. On character building they do try and manage to influence the effective and psychomotor domains of the child but larger understanding of Quran or school syllabus is comparatively missing.While shared we found that they are not much aware about the latest pedagogic interventions to facilitate better understanding for the children. When we shared certain techniques like use of flash cards or Antakchari, etc. , they appreciated the idea. Some of the Madarasas still appeared skeptical about these interventions while some of them shown their willingness to have such trainings on test basis. They say, “We welcome this training for our Imam and other teachers but even the management people would like to see it so that we may understand and appreciate that what is going through this training to our teachers and thus to our younger generations”.

 Books: Practically all the Madarasa representatives condemned the discrimination with them on this account. They told us that they do not get required books even in Hindi what to talk of Urdu books. They feel that first of all they are not provided with the required books. Even in exceptional cases if some books are provided at all they are not insufficient numbers leading to partial distribution and fuss. Further, the distribution is so late that the books are practically of no use and is only of symbolic nature.The discussion gradually shifted to a new area “whether there should be Urdu medium schools or not”? Over 60% of the representatives were of the view that there should Urdu medium schools, while remaining 40% were of the view that Urdu should be taught as a language in all the schools.

It was further proposed that books like geography, history, civics, environment should be in Urdu while the books which are more technical in nature namely mathematics & science should be in English/Hindi. It was also proposed that all the Urdu books should have subject/book specific dictionaries (glossary). This they fell will facilitate faster understanding of the subject at higher levels.While, shared with the experience of teachers’ reference manual, these representatives appeared to be more than willing to have it. However, they have a practical problem, i.e., all these Imams and teachers are also from the Madarasa background and hence would be unable to comprehend with Hindi or English manuals. At this age perhaps they cannot be taught a new language. Thus reference manuals necessarily need to be developed in Urdu & be provided to all the Madarsa teachers.

The Madarasa people as well as community representatives attending these workshops were enthusiastic about the possibility of developing and distribution of supplementary reading material. They were of the view that if certain basic Islamic stories may be written in Urdu, it would be a great help to the community.

SUGGESTIONS: To accelerate pace of girls education, it was concluded through these workshops that along with formal education system, the existing Madarasa education system may also be strengthened. Girls, coming to these Madarasas in large number, may easily be targeted by encouraging these Madarasas to adopt the formal school curriculum. This will ensure school education for these girls. To facilitate the same, the following suggestions have been deliberated upon during these workshops –

 Development of Information Base:It has been drawn from the four workshops that there is lack of information pertaining to girl’s education of Muslim community and also information on related issues. The following major inventions have been proposed to fill up this gap –

1.     A comprehensive ‘state level survey’ involving all stakeholders for ascertaining the educational status of Muslim girls needs to be conducted. A more in-depth discussion indentified ‘need for compilation of this information at district level’, starting with those districts first which are to be adopted on pilot basis for the project interventions.

2.         A comprehensive ‘directory containing basic information on Madarsas’ be developed. Along with addresses, some basic information like date of establishment, number of rooms & teachers, students enrolled - girls, boy & total, area covered, etc., should also be provided in this directory. This will not only help the institutions to network but will also help the education department for contextualized interventions and monitoring. It was felt that directory of only aided Madarasas will be too small while that of aided, registered and unregistered Maktab/Madarsas will be too big and unmanageable. Thus it was felt that directory should include information on all aided and registered Madarasas.

3.         It was also suggested that there are very good Madarasas operating in UP and elsewhere in India. They cater educational needs of Muslim girls and are performing very well. So there is a need to ‘document the same’ and share it with all so as to facilitate replicability and also create awareness and enthusiasm in the community for girls education. This document may be a handy tool in two ways –    

• It can be shared with Nissan Madarasas to inspire them for desired change
• It can also be used to create awareness and to motivate the community for girls education.

4.         Practically all the Madarasas that participated in all four Workshops have expressed desire to grow modernize and adopt school curriculum but lack in terms of resources. Thus it is urgently required to produce a ‘resource information booklet’. This booklet should give detailed information about the possible funding/supporting agencies/sources available to Madarasas like schemes of Education Department, Minority Welfare, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Agha Khan Foundation etc. So that willing Madarasas may apply different sources as per their sweet will and need.

5.     To fill up the information gap and to build up further minor details and strategies, organization of ‘regional workshops’ was also recommended. It was felt that more contextual zed implementation strategies & indicators may be evolved during these small workshops

6.   Development of a website was also suggested with maximum stress coming form Meerut district. It was recommended that registrations should be formally applied for as being done presently but a form for the same should necessarily be filled on-line. On the one hand it will facilitate more information to authorities about new Madarasas so that directory may be updated form time to time. On the other hand, on-line application will bring the request to the knowledge of higher ups and thus they believe that corruption and harassment by lower level staff at district level will be checked.

Registration:

7.         It was further suggested that the strict registration rules (terms & conditions) be liberalized. The registration process should be speedy and time bound. Normally people do not understand the registration terms & conditions to the full and therefore feel that a booklet in Urdu may be developed for this purpose and make it a component (part) of any of the training programme proposed to be organized.

8.         It was also recommended that terms & conditions of registration of Madarasas, be laid down in a structured point based system. Through this those applying for registration would be able to know their own points to understand the possibility of getting registration done and eliminate the element of subjectivity. It is further suggested that decision on the registration request should be made time bound and parallel on-line application of the same may further add to its transparent and speedy processing.

Training:

9.         Training was another issue discussed threadbare. It was drawn from the discussions that the community is in need of training pertaining to visioning and management of modern Madarasa system along with management of change.

It is urgently required that subject training be initiated with the Madarasas. Since most of small Maktab/Madarasas are run by Imams, not having subject oriented background and thus subject training is an urgency if the school curriculum is to be adopted

It was also found that Madarasas lack in terms of pedagogic information. They have little idea of influencing the effective and psychomotor domain of the child. It is felt that training for pedagogic interventions may be reflected partially in the visionary training to create the urge for adopting newer teaching learning methods, while detailed separate training programmes in line with subject training be organized to give pedagogic interventions. Computer related training is also well in demand.

Equivalence of Madarsa Education

10.       The community was desperate on the non-equivalence of their education system to the formal one. Formation of a Committee primarily having members from the Muslim Community was proposed. Once this Committee decides about equivalence of courses, the same should be adhered to at least in the whole state. They also expressed their willingness to adopt specific curriculum if required to ensure the same.

 Scholarship

11.       Scholarship was another point of discontent. It was suggested that scholarship be released 100 percent of the students enrolled. The release should also be regular and timely.

Information technology:

12.       Information technology appears to be a hype. Computer and internet is in great demand in all the four districts. Thus supply of hardware is requested followed by training programmes. It is further suggested that teaching related soft material on CDs may also be developed so that when the Imam/teacher concentrates on few students, other may learn through these programmes on computer at their own.

Government Aid:

13.       It is rightly requested that whatever aid government decides to provide to these Madarasas should necessarily be regular and timely. An irregular aid may be counter productive for the Madarsa and may distort the Madarasa functioning in the long run.  

Teacher’s salary

14.       Teacher’s salary is another issue in need of strategic change. Teacher once paid through government exchequer is not in control of the Madarsa management, is a reality. Thus it is suggested that in place of teachers salary coming directly from government exchequer to the teacher, it will be more appropriate to provide consolidated grant to the management and ensure the appointment of teachers against the specific grants.

Subject Books15.       The issue of subject books has also activated the participation in all the workshops. There appears to be an urge to ensure timely and regular distribution of subject books provided by the government free of cost. The books supplied should be in sufficient numbers.

16.       It was also evolved that the subject books like history, environment, civics, etc., may be developed in Urdu while mathematics and science books should be provided in English or Hindi as per the requirement of the Madarsa. The books of Urdu as a subject should necessarily be provided by the government free of cost.

17.       On the issue of child difficulty in understanding technical terms and subjects in Hindi or English at higher levels, as they will be studying the same in Urdu up to class V, it was felt that a book specific glossary may be developed (from Urdu to English/Hindi) and be attached to the respective book. It was also proposed that bridge camps offered under SSA programme may be used for transition phase to cope up the problem of studying in a different language (shift from Urdu to any other language) at higher levels.

Reference Book for Teachers:

18.       Teachers of Madarasa system are largely Imams coming from Madarasa background itself. Hence, they have little or no understanding of subjects and pedagogy. They primarily know Urdu and are less likely to be taught Hindi that their age. Thus it is proposed that teachers’ reference books be developed in Urdu. While shared the contents of various training modules, they were found to be enthusiastic and willing to learn from those manuals but want them in Urdu only.

Supplementary reading material:

19.       The idea of supplementary reading material, when shared with the participants was very well received. They desperately want there stories be published in Urdu having religious and character building orientations. Experience of TLM use, use of Mathematics and Language kits etc. also evoked excitement and they expressed their willingness to share the same.

Toilet for the girls:

20.  There is a great demand for providing separate toilet for the girls. This small intervention is likely to go a long way in supporting the cause of girls’ education.

Quality of government assistance:

21. The participants felt disillusioned with low quality of government assistance. They strongly feel that the help which is being offered should be of quality and standard.It is recommended that initial interventions should only be tried out with the Madarasas willing to participate. To substantiate this point it may be recommended that Madarasas at Aligarh were found to be highly reluctant and unwilling to accept the interventions while Meerut and Rampur appear to be relatively much eager and ready to take up the change. Unlike Central Government which is trying to evolve a macro consensus to initiate nation wide interventions, it is recommended here to initiate small interventions with a few selected districts willing to accept the change. The success stories of these efforts may be documented and shared in the second phase with other districts and evolve a state wide consensus and replicate the same at macro level.It is further recommended that while preparing the supplementary reading material, utmost care need to be taken as the community in internally divided into various sects, prophesying different line of stories. So few stories liked by one section of the society may be discarded by the other groups. The stories of character building may be a much better idea in the initial phase of development of supplementary material.

On the basis of forging discussion and jist of all four workshops conducted by the undersigned it may be firmly concluded that community is ready and willing to accept the change, provided the help comes with earnest intentions and is on consistent basis. It is sure that once greater confidence is build up through regional or district level workshops, the rest of the strategic implementation could be much easier and faster.