Mathang Seshagiri for Times News Network
Bangalore, Nov 24: There are fewer Muslim children seeking madrasa education than what is widely perceived, says the Justice Rajindar Sachar committee.
This Prime Minister-appointed committee which studied the social, educational and economic status of Muslims in the country says only 4.3% of Muslim children are studying in madrasas.
According to excerpts of the report made available to The Times of India, while in the North 6.8% of enrolled Muslim students go to madrasas, in the South it is just 1.6%.
Despite high proportion of Urdu-speaking children, the report says many states have failed to provide access to Urdu schools for the age group of 6 to 14 years. Urdu primary education is the best in Maharashtra (above 50%), but in Uttar Pradesh, which has a high Urdu-speaking population, it is virtually non-existent (less than 5%). Karnataka, with 12.2% Muslim population, offers the secondbest primary education for Muslims.
"Normal secular education is the only way to satisfy increasing demand for education," the committee says.
Even the coverage of Integrated Child Development Scheme (0-6 years) is lowest among Muslims. In the midday meals scheme, the Muslim coverage is better than Hindu upper castes. The best coverage, however, is that of SC/STs.
Incidence of 'never-attended-school' is highest among Muslims while there are more SC/STs dropping out of schools compared with Muslims. The report notes that inter-socio-religious community differences rise at the school-leaving state. "Participation of Muslims in technical/engineering education is abysmal. While one in 120 Hindu general category students enrol in technical education, among Muslim students it is 1:1,000," the committee says.
Muslims have a better literacy rate — both in urban and rural areas — compared with SC/STs. In urban areas, the literacy rate of Muslims is 70.1% (as against 68.3% among SC/STs) and in rural areas it is 52.7% (compared with 48.9% among SC/STs).
Muslims constitute about 13% of the population of which about 40% are classified as OBCs.