Mohammad Ashram Mali Research scholar, Department of psychology, AMA, Aligarh’s Abstract The present paper reviews the available evidence on the problems with quality of education among Muslims in India. Ninths paper an attempt is made to highlight the problems of quality education among Muslims of India. Education plays an important role in making any community developed and advanced. In the modern society education is used as a lever for equalizing economic and other opportunities for people and the quality education nurtures human talent and creativity.
Muslims In India are considered educationally backwards as Is reported by the Sacra committee, (2006) that Muslims are not educationally backward but they are lagging behind, even schedule casts and schedule tribes. So for the fulfillment of Muslims especially In the education sector there is need to ascertain the causes and concerns of their educational backwardness and to know the factors that are responsible for the low quality education among Muslims. At last, the author presents some suggestion for the future course action.
Keywords: Quality, Education, Muslims, India Introduction Quality in Education Education Is Important for the prosperous development of any community. Education plays a pivotal role for making the nation developed and advanced. It Is only due to education which provides better opportunities and Increases the level of Income of an Individual. Thus education Is perceived to be an Important factor In human capital formation. In modern society education Is used as a lever for equalizing economic and other opportunities for people.
Quality education nurtures human talent and creativity. It contributes to the personal and professional development of the individual, as well as to the social, cultural, economic, political and environmental development of society at large. It promotes peace, democracy, creativity, solidarity, inclusion, a commitment to a sustainable environment, and international and intercultural understanding. It provides people with the critical knowledge; abilities and skills that are needed to explore and solve problems that occur both locally and globally.
However the concept of quality In education can be better understood by reviewing following given definitions: Doherty-Dolores and Shaker (2001 ) define quality as excellence: “We have defined quality as ten degree AT excellence AT ten entire coeducational experience. A null quality education depends on the provincial and federal governments’ commitment to fostering a well-rounded educational experience and environment. In part, this includes: the quality of student life; the adequacy of university or college finances; the breadth of disciplines and modes of learning offered; and student access to tenured faculty’.
Universities UK (JUJU) 2008 state “Academic ‘quality describes the effectiveness of the learning experience provided by universities to their students, I. E. The appropriateness and effectiveness of learning, teaching, assessment and support opportunities provided to assist students achieve heir learning objectives”. Amazon bent Masses AY Missed quoted quality of education as “The right to a quality education is, I believe, the perfect path to bridge the gap between different cultures and to reconcile various civilizations. Without such a right, the values of liberty, Justice and equality will have no meaning.
Ignorance is by far the biggest danger and threat to humankind”. Problems of Quality Education among Muslims Education, one of the critical indicators of human development and pre-requisite for economic growth, has grown exponentially in India since independence. Indian education is second largest in world with 10. Khaki schools and about 17,000 colleges and about 329 universities, including institutions deemed to be universities. Despite the expansion of education in India, the progress achieved has not been satisfactory. Educational inequalities and disparities have not been removed so far.
Only a very small fraction of population has access to secondary and higher level education. (Wadded, 2010). Muslims in India are the highest minority and it constitutes the 14 percent of five religious national minorities, are most educationally backward community. According to the Sacra Committee(2006), Muslims in India are at double disadvantage with low level of education combined with low quality of education, their deprivation increases manifold as the level of education arises. So, presently the Muslims are not merely lagged behind in education but quality of education is also poor.
There may be several reasons for the educational backward of Muslims. One of the major reasons in my opinion is the failure to have their own high quality school education system and to have sufficient networking of such schools. However with the each passing day getting education is becoming difficult reposition. There is a disadvantage and over all deprivation on account of lack of education among Muslims. According to Lam (2007), although the Muslim community is represented in primary school in accordance with its percentage share in the total population, its representation in secondary schools is much lower.
In general, the reasons accounting for the educational backwardness of Muslims are: (a) Historical and religious factors (Big 1974 ;); (b) ‘Minority complex’ including latent discrimination against Muslims by wider (Malory, 1973) (c) Socio-economic backwardness (Insane 2001; Engineer 2001; Gain, 1986). Apart from the above mentioned factors, there are other factors which discourage Muslims to receive coeducation some AT tense are as lacrosse oases educational Institutions.
Muslim student’s faces enormous difficulties in getting admission to higher quality educational institutions as large number of them receives education from schools affiliated to state board. Quality in these schools is very poor in comparison to English medium schools affiliated to CBS or ICES students of both types of schools are treated at par for admission in higher educational institutions. Obviously, dents of former school background are indirectly excluded from higher education. Hence a large number of Muslim students do not have access to good quality higher educational institutions. Squishier, 2010) * Madras’s Education. The students of Madras’s educational background are generally discriminated in schools imparting modern education. They are not provided admission to technical educational institutions because the conditions of Madras are worse and they fail to provide modern education to meet the demands of the present world. We have a large network of Madras throughout the country that is imparting Islamic education of high order but they are reluctant to introduce modern education on the pretext that their heavy curricula do not permit teaching of additional subjects.
In one of the statement, Squid (2004) argues that in the aftermath of partition, education among Muslims suffered tremendous setback, with dissolution of princely houses and feudal estates, the patronage on which numerous Madras’s had depend evaporated. * Priority for Women Education We all must give priority for girl’s quality education in our families. Participation of Muslim girls in educational activities has been studied by Hosannas and Men (2004) hey found that very few Muslim women in India are in high profile Jobs.
The study reveals that less than of Muslim women report themselves to be working. Generally, Muslim women are self-employed or engaged in home-based labor. This leads too huge dropout of Muslim girls from schools. * Lack of Qualified Trained Teachers The one more reason in lacking quality education is lack of well trained teachers and non availability of qualified and trained Muslim heads of institutions (Headmasters, Principals) in order to run the Muslim managed schools and colleges is well known moon problem of Muslim schools especially in rural India. Napes, 2010) * Economic Normalization A very large proportion of Muslims in India are economically marginalia, and the government has done little to address their pathetic living conditions. Mounting economic normalization and deprivation naturally make higher education an impossible proposition for many Muslim families. * Access to infrastructure and other facilities Lack of basic facilities, infrastructure like school buildings, furniture etc. In the most of the rural areas in northern India like Utter Pradesh, Briar, Madhya Pradesh, and Helmsman Prepares Is a great nurse In ten quality coeducation.
In AAA t 01 Ion to tans lack of quality teachers in these schools and discrimination and ‘communication of reading materials of school atmosphere adds to this problem. * Low Socio-Economic Status Poverty among Muslims across the country especially in the north India, central and eastern India is also a great hurdle in the access of Muslims to education. Due to poverty most of the parents could not effort to send their children’s to private institutions and however, some families try to send their wards to government schools, but the quality of education in these schools is abysmally low. Awareness Programmer Unfortunately, because of lack of motivation, interest, and knowledge, we are not aware about the 1 lath and 12th Five Year Plans in which the government has granted thousand of scores allocated for higher education of Muslim minority, we must ensure to initiate the awareness programmer for our community, so that they may benefited from the granted budget by central government till the year 2017. Lack of awareness among Muslim community is casual factor for educational backwardness. * Scholarships
Most of the Muslims students are deprived of availing scholarship for higher technical and professional education, these scholarship are available to students who are enrolled in ‘premier’ educational institutions from the government. Hence the students of minority institutions are not getting the benefits of scholarship scheme. Due to the unavailability of financial assistance from government they could not continue their education. * Lack of Motivation and Guidance Low expectation of return from attending schools is another factor for lack of motivation towards education.
Since the community does not see a lot Muslim youth coming successful by virtue of going to school, it apparently does not much promise of immediate returns to people who rather pay attention to vocations that pay earlier returns. This happens due to abysmally low representation of Muslims in public and private sector Jobs. * Parental Attitude Lack of parental attitude towards education is also a big problem among Muslims. For example, most of the Muslim parents, who equate graduation with government Job?
They would say it is not an end-all and be-all in life to be a clerk in some office. He would argue why should my child struggle for twenty years to be a itty teacher or clerk in some distant place away from the family? Why should one wait that long when even the Job is not guaranteed in this competitive world? Why should he not take to business or trade I am doing and start helping the family? Linking Jobs with degrees and the resulting inhibitions thereof has been a crucial problem of ours.
To sum up, by analyzing the above given factors of Muslim educational backwardness, we reach to the conclusion that Muslims in India are passing through a very pathetic situation, as far as their economical or educational conditions are concerned. In all the fields Muslims are lagging behind, even though it has been reported by the Sacra Committee, (2006) that the Muslims are not educationally backward but they are lagging behind, even schedule castes and conceals trades.
The issues as stated above is also highlighted by the various renowned writers and educationist as in one of the study while high lighting the problems of Muslim education Seek Ihram Mondale argues that the educational backwardness of Muslims in India should be understood in wider context of their overall socio- economical and political normalization (Mondale, 1997). He further added that being a vulnerable minority, Muslims feels their identity and lives under threat, which enhance the influence of orthodox and conservative Islamic Llama, who are generally known for their lack of enthusiasm for modern education.
Further, inhabiting educational advancement of community is the fact that many Muslims are engaged in ‘marginal’ economic activities that do not require modern education. In addition to widespread poverty among Muslims limited their level of educational aspiration. One of the studies by Jeffery and Jeffery. (2000) reveals that the situation is not better n rural areas. In addition, because of low Socio-economic status, Muslim children are joining Madras’s as Madras’s are providing free education and often residential facilities too.
Presently, the condition of Muslim education is so miserable and they are considered inferior to scheduled tribes and scheduled casts. As is reported by the study of University grant commission of India (UGH), the study reveals that Muslims are far below Christians, Hindus and Sikhs when it comes to Gross Enrolment Ratio (EGGER) in under graduate courses. Even scheduled casts and scheduled tribes are ahead of Muslims.
Now the need of hour is to establish number of good public schools and excellent institutions not only in urban areas but also in the most inferior Muslim rural areas of the country by the central as well as state government with full attention to provide quality education to Muslim students so as to enable them to achieve higher goals and excel in ever changing competitive environment. SUGGESTIONS There is a great need of some reformative measures that should be taken to improve the educational system of Muslims in India as Muslims in India are educationally backward and their socio-economical conditions are also worse.
The authors suggest the following for the future course of action. * There is need for immediate steps to be taken to improve quality of education in the institutions of higher learning as well as make efforts to establish good quality public schools and technical educations especially in those areas where Muslims are educationally backward. * Adequate infrastructural facilities should be provided to upgrade education standard of Madras and Madras should be linked with higher secondary school board in order to facilitate Madras students to shift to modern education.
