Although the Delhi-based National Commission of Minority Educational Institutions recommended the establishment of a Central Madarsa Board (CMB) to standardise and upgrade the disparate and often arbitrary syllabuses of the country’s estimated 30,000 madarsa schools in April 2007, there’s been little forward movement to action the proposal. Educationists believe this is because of the sharp dualism between the ulema, religious scholars educated in traditional madarsas, and the small, ‘modern’ educated Muslim middle class.
Influential sections of the mass media tend to portray the ulema and the educational institutions that they run (madarsas, maktabs, seminaries etc) in stereotypically negative terms, as being wholly and fiercely opposed to reform. However such depictions of the ulema are less than accurate. Actually a growing number of the ulema are the most ardent advocates of maktab and madarsa reform. And the progressive clergy is increasingly soliciting the help of NGOs and secular educationists to engineer reforms in minority-run education institutions.
A case in point of collaboration between the traditional ulema and non-Muslim civil society groups is the Jeevan Talim educational project in rural Kutch in north Gujarat. A joint project of the Jamiat-i Ulema-i Hind, a leading body of ulema associated with the Deoband seminary, and the Ahmedabad-based Janvikas, (through its initiative Udaan, a resource centre working on primary education), the project was initiated in 2004 with a grant from Misereor, a German Catholic relief and development agency.
The aim of the project is to provide remedial, pluralistic and inclusive education and teach basic numeracy and literacy skills to Muslim children in the age group four-10 years in selected areas of Kutch where no government-funded education facilities exist. The prime purpose of the project is to prepare students for admission into government schools in classes IV-V. The project entails organising Jeevan Talim classes providing secular education in maktab precincts, or, in villages and hamlets that don’t have maktabs, in the porch of local mosques, with the timings suitably adjusted so that the children’s Islamic education would not be interrupted or disturbed.
Where possible, the maulvi or Islamic scholar teaching in the maktab would be engaged to take the Jeevan Talim class as well, for which he will be paid additionally. If there is no adequately qualified maulvi available in the village or its neighbourhood, then a local youth, male or female, would be engaged as teacher. Because the levels of education in rural Kutch, particularly among Muslims, are extremely low, provision was also made for suitable pedagogical training of maulvis and local youth selected as instructors in Jeevan Talim centres. Subjects to be taught in the centres include basic literacy in Gujarati, numeracy skills, environmental awareness, as well as music and theatre. It was expected that after completing Jeevan Talim classes, children would be ready to join the nearest government primary school.
To start with, a total of 14 villages in northern Kutch, many of them on the fringes of the Rann, the vast stony desert that spills across the border into neighbouring Pakistan, were selected for implementation of Jeevan Talim. Most of them had no government schools, and in the few that did, the teachers came very irregularly or not at all. Two villages had Hindu and Dalit inhabitants also, including one where the students who attended the Jeevan Talim centres were all Dalits. Today, the project runs 32 centres in different parts of rural Kutch, with an aggregate enrollment of 900 boys and girls.
Four years on, the Jeevan Talim project has made considerable headway, although not to the extent envisaged. Given the extremely harsh terrain in which the project is being implemented, the pathetic socio-economic condition of the people, their lack of a literacy culture, poor communication skills, scarcity of trained teachers etc, the project has succeeded in arousing people’s interest in educating their children. The fact that literally hundreds of Kutchi Muslim children, first generation learners, are now familiar with the alphabet and have acquired basic numeracy skills is testimony to the unprecedented success of the initiative.
“Now only very few people say that there is no use educating our children. Even the poorest families are aware of the need for education, and the Jeevan Talim project has played a central role in creating awareness about the vital importance of an education centre of our own where children can receive education joyfully,” says Saleem a resident of Vanrani village.
Although the majority of the children, teachers and supervisors associated with the project are Muslims, a substantial number of Hindus and Dalits are also closely involved in different capacities, as teachers, students and project support staff. This gives children, parents and the ulema as well as Jamiat leaders opportunities to interact with people of other faiths, a process that helps undermine prejudices on both sides. Comments Maulana Hakimuddin Qasmi, in-charge of the Jamiat’s Children’s Village in Anjar, a town in northern Kutch, and closely involved in the Jeevan Talim project: “In the holy Quran, Allah says that we should help each other in good deeds. This also means that people of goodwill from all faiths should work together for serving the needy. That’s what the Jeevan Talim project is all about.”
This innovative experiment provides valuable lessons for those interested in promoting Muslim education reform. It demonstrates that large sections of the traditional ulema are in favour of upgrading maktab and madarsa education, and are willing to marshal rich theological resources to promote secular education among Muslim children. More importantly, it indicates that such efforts involving — rather than demonising — the ulema, can play a major role in mainstreaming India’s short-changed Muslim community.
Yoginder Sikand (Kutch, Gujarat)