Minority Schools. Are they still aliged with core objective?
Brits may have exploited it for their divide-&-rule gain in the name of preserving culture, but what's happening today is beyond comprehension!
Stats, rights, risk, & more!
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#Madrasa #Missionaries #TheHawkEyeThread
The study coverage area is too vast with various dimensions where every aspect needs equal attention.
Therefore, this thread will be released in parts-
Part1: Principle of Minority School and Madrasa;
Part2: Missionary Schools;
Part3: Funding & Conclusion
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Let's begin with the principle of the establishment.
Pre-independence era, Society Reg. Act, 1860 paved the path for formalizing religious & linguistic groups to promote the resp. culture. However, the underlying objective of Brits was to exploit society on communal lines.
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Post-independence, Art 30(1) of CoI grants minorities a fundamental right to establish schools of their choice to practice religious studies & culture. The most prominent community schools in India are (1) Madrasa by Muslim comm, (2) Missionary Schools by Christian comm
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There is a long history of estb of Madrasa. In principle, the practice is rooted back in Islam preached by Sufis, later evolved into Maktabs emphasizing Quran recitation. Mughals (13-19th centuries) built Maktabs or Madrasas alongside mosques. But then this is history.
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As of date, Madrasas are categorized as (a) Recognised, (b) Unrecognised (c) Unmapped. As per data available 20K Madrasas are recoginsed, 5K unrecognized. But challenge here is most of the Madrasas in India are ‘Unmapped’ i.e. not recorded in any formal documentations.
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They usually run within mosques (or nearby). The number varies anywhere up to 20-40K or even more. e.g. two biggest Muslim seminary Jamiat & Darul Ulum, Deoband 30K & 16K Madrasas (as per website & donation ads). There are many more such orgs that govern Madrasas at own.
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Despite such a huge network of schools, the general perception of education standard at Madrasas is not good. And that reflects in stats too.
Muslim comm holds the lowest literacy @ 59.1% (chart).
As per Sachar Committee Report, the situation is extremely alarming.
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- 25% of M children have never attended school
- Only 2/50 undergrad, 1/50 postgrad students are M.
- M is behind all other religious groups on most of ‘Development Indicators’
- More male than female (for other minorities, its opposite)
- Only 3.4% M teachers across India.
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On the contrary, there are various intel reports that attribute Madrasas, syllabus & isolation from the mainstream is breeding ground for Islamic radicalization & recruiters.
e.g.
P1- Jakarta terror attack
P2- EFSAS study over Pakistan
P3- 9/11 report excerpt
P4- UN report
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India is, obviously, no exception in the context. There are enough citations from Indian intel agencies too about Madrasa's directly or indirectly involve in extreme/terror activities. Some concerning headlines are captured here.
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Besides the national security threat, another serious concern is the rate of crime against women and children, where either the incident taken place at Madrasa or the teacher was in/directly involved.
Check the compilation of some spine-chilling headlines:
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Given the political nature, govts refain & Muslim leaders aren't serious to reform Madrasas. As if status quo is more favroble, though for name sake ack the need. Or else why don't all Madrasas get registered?
Until recently Assam converts all Madradas into formal school and
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UP CM launched a series of reforms, from the changes in the syllabus (NCERT introduction; maths & science mandatory) to a dedicated portal with a mandate to get all Madrasas registered. State granted Rs479Cr aid too, but again consider help to only reg one, not the unmapped.
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However, the efforts amidst the political appeasement, isn't enough, at the pan-India level. NCPCR led by @KanoongoPriyank has submitted a first-of-its-kind comprehensive study & recommendation, spl w.r.t. to RTE & funding. This part will be covered later in Part-2 & 3.
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On the other hand, the statistics and the problem statement for missionaries schools are entirely different, so are the possible reforms measures.
If you like the work, pls support by RT first tweet /tag your fav handles.
Stay tuned for the next parts.
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