Deccan Herald
Mangalore, May 21: At a time when even reputed schools could not get impressive results, as many as 35 dropout girls belonging to the Muslim community have cleared their SSLC exams, thanks to the relentless efforts of Jamiyathul Falah, a forum devoted to serve the society.
Be it Haseena, Kubra, Hannath, Anseera, Banu or any other girl among the 34, all left school not because they were not interested to study, but for their inability to pursue studies. The reasons are many. It could be dying poverty, inability of the parents to pay the fees or even the orthodox setup of the family.
The 35 drop-out Muslim girls who completed their SSLC.
Teachers Nasreena, Fauziya and Sameena (in the Middle) are also seen.
You ask any girl and they have a sad story behind their discontinuation of studies. Says Kubra who quit after successfully completing 6th std about 9 years ago: "I have six brothers and three sisters. I could not study only because my parents were unable to pay the fees." Only two in her family have completed SSLC and Kubra is the third one.
The story of Hannath, who quit after passing 9th standard too is almost similar. She scored 460 marks (highest among the 34 girls). She is the eldest in her family with four brothers and three sisters.
On the contrary, Anseera, who quit after completing 8th standard simply because she was not interested to pursue her studies a few years ago, later realised that she should continue her studies and the Falah drive helped her in the endavour. She scored 405 marks (Hindi-92, Kannada-98, Maths-60, Science-55, Social Studies-65 and English-35).
Haseena, a 7th std drop-out, managed to score 265 in SSLC. She could not pursue her studies due to the inability to pay fees. She lost her father at a tender age. "Her specialty is that she missed only 3 classes in the past 18 months," said Fauziya Sulthana who teaches English, Kannada, Social and Science to the drop-out girls.
In fact, Fouziya is the only graduate (BA) among the three teachers. The other two teachers - Nasreena (teaching Maths) and Sameena (teaching Hindi) have completed only PU.
"So many students could clear the exams though none of the teachers are professionally trained (B Ed) and its no less than a great achievement," opined Nazeer, who was part of the team.
The man behind all the work, Jamiyathul Falah former president Abdul Rauf Puthige, said that care has been taken to see to it that all the students have crossed the age of 16.
"If we had started taking students below 16, then there was a danger of regular school going students leaving the school to join this school as everything -right from the books to bags, exam fees and even dress is provided free of cost here."
However, the present President Hyder Hajee and Women’s wing president Mansoor Ahmed are continuing the noble cause.
It all began when a few like minded people including Rauf, Amar Farooq Puthige, Mansoor, Imthiyaz, Nazeer and Sarfaraj thought of ensuring that every eligible child is admitted to one or the other school and to see that none of them remain away from school for whatsoever reason.
The result was "Educational awareness campaign" and a survey in association with the women's wing of Jamiyathul Falah. Without wasting any time, they formed four groups each with three women and one man and went to about 1,000 houses to conduct a survey.
The result was tremendous. They found more than 200 dropout girls in Bengre alone. Quite interestingly, they also found that many had interest to study provided somebody pays their fees and somebody convince their parents. The next step was to find a suitable place for learning. When the team members approached the Madarasa authorities, they readily agreed for the noble cause. The Mosque authorities who are otherwise rigid too happily gave their nod to take the classes in Madarasa, said Rauf.
"If all the madarasas cooperate in such noble causes, hundreds of girls could realise their dreams," opines Rauf.