CNN-IBN
New Delhi, Jun 14: While Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) students across the country celebrated their success recently, for some in the Muslim community there was absolutely no reason to rejoice.
Fourteen-year-old Sanaah Isaah is far removed from the celebrations that her classmates have been busy with.
After she failed her Class 10 examination this year she is now spending her summer holidays attending English coaching classes.
"If I had books in Urdu I would have managed to pass my examinations. Last year there were no science and maths books in Urdu. That’s why I couldn't study and couldn't pass," says Sanaah.
But she is not the only one facing the brunt. Students taking their exams in Urdu medium have no textbooks.
A few translations come only six to eight months after the English and Hindi books hit the market, which is the reason why CBSE schools in Delhi following Urdu medium have only seen a 20 per cent pass result.
In fact some Urdu medium schools did not even have a single successful student.
"There are no books for Urdu medium. Students who have passed have either opted for English medium or got help from teachers who translated texts for them," says a teacher at Anglo Arabic School, Maqsood Ahmed.
"I had opted for the English medium. That has more opportunities. I would have never managed to pass if I was still with Urdu medium,” says the topper of Anglo Arabic School, Syed Muntazir Mehdi.
It is a claim that even the National Committee for Monitoring Minority Education agrees with, but little is being done to change that.
Caught between a paucity of teachers and the lack of textbooks, the future for Urdu medium students is bleak and options are few; a combination that will continue to force them to drop out of school.