Contrary to popular belief, madrasas could be a potent ally in India’s progress
In early July, the Indian government’s declaration that madrasas, Islamic seminaries, in the country’s eastern province of Bengal serve as a springboard for extremism, reinforced the Hindu right-wing allegations that demonize these age-old seats of Islamic learning.
Amid a renewed attempt to erase India’s Muslim heritage — as evident from the re-naming of cities, streets and landmarks associated with religious minorities, and the re-writing of history — there is an unfortunate attempt, at the official level, to stigmatize madrasa education.
While it is an undeniable fact that Islamic seminaries have traditionally been at the core of Muslim society’s socio-cultural life, these institutions, have also enabled children from the majority Hindu community to acquire elementary education. The most notable example is India’s first President Dr. Rajendra Prasad.
Besides, attaching a vulnerability tag sweepingly is extremely unfair. An eminent American security expert agreed with me that it is a logical fallacy to tar all madrasas with the same brush.
The rise in militant activities by those from non-Madrasa backgrounds in India, New Zealand and elsewhere, punctures the illusion that Islamic seminaries are at the heart of all extremism and involved in the incubation of next generation militancy.
Seema Sengupta
Case studies of high-profile militant acts have revealed a pattern of perpetrators being educated in modern institutions, rather than in madrasas alone.
Just as research thoroughly debunks the myth of poverty driving militancy solely, the rise in militant activities by those from non-Madrasa backgrounds in India, New Zealand and elsewhere, punctures the illusion that Islamic seminaries are at the heart of all extremism and involved in the incubation of next generation militancy.
Professor Zafarul Islam, an eminent expert of Islamic Studies, told me it was completely irrational to co-relate religious education with radicalism. Rather, he argued, madrasas remain at the forefront of an organized effort to confront motivated exploitation and distortion of Islam by violent criminals.
There is a method in the systematic attempts of presenting negative stereotype of madrasas in Bengal. As a senior source in the provincial government’s Madrasa Education Department revealed to me, Bengal boasts a highly efficacious government-administered madrasa education system, launched way back in 1780 with the inauguration of Madrasa-i-Aliyah, and can be easily classified as the best in the country.
Having been tutored by eminent academics associated with this madrasa, India’s oldest educational institution, in my formative years, I can vouch that children from poorer Muslim families in far-flung districts are benefiting from the robust network of madrasas, without which they might have been forced into labor and suffered other abuses.
In fact, up to 13 percent of students in these institutions are from non-Muslim backgrounds, and demonstrate progressive growth. Most importantly, there has been a steady five to seven percent annual hike in the number of enrolled students in the 615 madrasas operated by the Bengal government, as well as 12 model English medium madrasas after the adoption of a modern curriculum.
And significantly, in a display of egalitarianism, Muslim parents are actively sending their daughters to madrasas, which has led to girls constituting 60 percent of the total number of students in these centers of learning.
That girls from Muslim families, particularly those from poorer socio-economic backgrounds, are determined to make a mark for themselves is best reflected in a nearly zero madrasa dropout rate.
A government source concedes that the interpretation of the Islamic scripture and instruction is not part of the syllabus in government-aided madrasas, but said there was evidence suggesting the attendance of students in mosque-linked community sponsored madrasas, beyond school hours, for religious studies.
At 68 percent, Muslims have a much lower literacy rate compared to the national average of 74 percent in India, while a government survey found that the community is the poorest religious group with a per capita spending of INR 32.66.
Despite this, a government appointed study commission, which looked into the socio-economic status of Indian Muslims, found that only three to four percent of school-going Muslim children actually attended madrasas. A strengthened madrasa education system can, nevertheless, stand tall as an indispensable ally in India’s efforts to refurbish its tottering education infrastructure. This is quite apart from also bolstering the employment potential of Muslim youths.
Professor Mohammad Aslam Parvaiz, Vice-Chancellor of Maulana Azad National Urdu University in Hyderabad, India, said he did not see any conflict between Islam and modern education, and expressed his wholehearted support for synthesis of madrasa schooling and contemporary learning, without compromising on the institution’s basic character.
However, there is an urgent need to resist the temptation of viewing the madrasa solely through the Islamophobic prism- and it is justified to ask why madrasas are being targeted selectively, when other religious seminaries, be they Christian or Hindu, offer a very similar religious education.
