Friday, 20 September 2013

My published article in Journal of Youth Affairs of Vishwa Yuvak Kendra, New Delhi

1

Muslim Youth Females in Higher Education: Problems and Concerns

Muslim Youth Females in Higher Education:
                                         Problems and Concerns                    
*Dr. Badar Jahan

“Give a girl an education and introduce her properly into the world, and ten to one but she has the means of settling well, without further expense to anybody.”  Jane Austen

It is well accepted that the role of education is very significant in social, cultural and economic development of an individual, a society and a nation. In general the Muslim community is legged behind in education and in particular Muslim women are educationally the most backward section of society.
The progress and all development of a country depend upon harnessing the skills and abilities of all sections of society regardless of cast, creed, religion and sex. Women have been discriminated against for ages and they have not been given equal opportunities in many social, educational, economic and cultural spheres. If women’s involvement is not in the development activities, it is not merely obstructs their own development but also affects the progress of the whole country. “Index of modernization of any society is the position of its women vis-à-vis men, the more balanced the opportunity structure for men and women, the large the role women have in society and consequently the higher their status. In a developing society it is essential that both men and women play equal and important role in the development efforts”. 1 
In 1979 the United Nation adopted the convention on the elimination of all form of discrimination against women (CEDAW). This is known as the international Bill of women’s right. 2  In 1980 U.N. Report it was reported that “women institute half of the world’s population, perform nearly two third of its work hours, receive one tenth of the world’s income and less than one hundredth of the world’s property.
Statistics disclose that women comprise 66 percent of world’s illiterates and 70 percent of world’s poor”.3 In India the situation of women is very miserable in general. “Women have been socially, educationally economically, physically, psychologically and sexually exploited sometime in the name of religion and sometimes by the custom and tradition”.4  And  in particular since Muslim are in minority in India, their women’s position is even worse because there is an attempt to safeguard the community identity that generally prevent.
Muslim Women face discrimination at dual level one is being minority secondly being women with cultural, traditional and religious restrictions. “In general, women are the most vulnerable section of our Indian society due to its patriarchal nature. Muslim women suffer more because of the patriarchal nature of Islam and are not given enough freedom and hardly have access to higher education, though even the primary level education is not easily accessible to them”.5  The reason why, Muslim women have the lowest education status as compared to their counterparts belonging to other religious communities, Muslim girls are not encouraged to take higher education also their drop out numbers from school  are higher.  They have been pushed into stereotype role of looking after household chores which undermines their capacities and capabilities. One manifestation of this is, as pointed out in one study, that majority i.e. 69.75 percent Muslim women do not want to educate their daughters beyond the primary level of education. Further many middle class women who have requisite qualifications are not allowed to seek employment because ‘community respectability’ is likely to get smeared. This has resulted in general backwardness of Muslims and particularly Muslim women in India.6
The struggle for formal education of Muslim women began at the end of nineteenth century. Sir Maulana Hali and Sheikh Abdullah took the lead to fight for the cause of education for Muslim women and opened a girl’s school in 1894. Education of girls and women has transited from extreme opposition to total acceptance by the end of the last century. Sultan Jehan, the Begum of Bhopal was the first women in the Indian history who believed in the emancipation of women through education. She started the first school for Muslim girls in 1903 the Sultania school . A resolution was passed in the annual Muslim Education Conference session at Lucknow to establish a girl’s school in Aligarh and the school was opened in 1906. In 1911, Sakhawat Memorial Girls High School was started in Bengal by Rokeya Sakhawat Hussain. Maulana Karamat Hussain and the Raja of Mahmudabad also supported for girl’s education and started a girl’s school in Lucknow in 1912.
Afterward, since Independence, the Government of India has appointed various Committees and commissions to look into the problems of education. Several policies are being formulated to promote and strengthen education of children. With regard to education of Minorities, some of the important recommendations are e.g. The Report of the Education Commission (1964-66 ), The National Policy on Education (1968), The National Policy on Education (NPE) 1986 revised in 1992 and its Programme of Action (POA), envisages paying greater attention to the education of the educationally backward minorities in the interest of equality and social justice. Government declared for the specially women’s education in minorities “As the women literacy and the girls enrolment is lowest among educationally backward minorities, in the schemes of opening of girls schools, appointment of lady teachers, opening of girls hostels and providing of incentives in the form of mid – day meals, uniforms etc. minorities’ needs should be fully met. A production–cum–training center for crafts exclusively for girls preferably with women instructors to the extent possible in each of the identified minority concentration districts. This will be done by State Governments.” (A study by Anita Nuna supported by NCRT, 2003).  The Article 15 of constitution has recently been amended by the Constitution (Ninety-third Amendment) Act, 2005 to empower the State to make special provisions, by law, for admission of socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or scheduled castes/tribes to educational institutions including private educational institutions, whether aided or unaided by the State, other than minority educational institutions.
Sachar Committee report also highlights the condition of Muslim women’s education as “A wide variety of problems associated with the education of Muslim women were raised. These problems result in low enrolment and retention. In this dismal scenario there is one big ray of hope; while the education system appears to have given up on Muslim girls, the girls themselves have not given up on education. 7
Evan after all the efforts made by educationists and government still the Muslim women are most back ward in field of education. After independence Muslim women literacy rate has been very poor comparatively with their other counter parts. According to ORG-Marg Muslim Women's Survey — commissioned by the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi —conducted in 2000-2001 in 40 districts spanning 12 states, the enrolment percentage of Muslim girl children is a mere 40.66 per cent. As a consequence, the proportion of Muslim women in higher education is a mere 3.56 per cent, lower even than that of scheduled castes (4.25 per cent). On all-India basis, 66 per cent Muslim women are stated to be illiterate. The illiteracy is most widespread in Haryana while Kerala has least illiteracy among Muslim women closely followed by Tamil Nadu. Muslim women are found to be more literate than their Hindu counterparts in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Most of the northern states are in urgent need of vigorous and sustained literacy campaigns. The enrolment figure of 52.1 per cent for urban Muslim females compares poorly to the corresponding figure of 70.7 per cent for Hindu females, which further widens across subsequent age categories to end with 4.7 per cent of Muslim females attending educational institutions, compared to 10.2 per cent of Hindu women or 18.2 per cent of Christian women. Clearly, Muslim women in urban India are much worse off than their rural counterparts, not only in terms of their overall educational status as citizens of India, but also in terms of their relatively poor educational status when compared to Hindu or Christian women. This trend is all the more alarming when this situation is compared to the advances in Muslim female education achieved at the turn of the century. This educational disadvantage of women in Muslim communities mandates attention.
The Indian government has failed to secure primary and secondary education for most of its citizens and its policies have deprived people of their right to education. It could also be assumed that their percentage quite less in obtaining higher education according to a study on the educational Status of Muslim women 2012 don by Dr. SV Shinde & Dr Annie John “a total of 129 universities and 84 colleges provided data. The “all India” estimates generated from these data pertain to just over 1.3 million graduate (bachelors degree) and another 1.5 million postgraduates (masters degree and above) Muslim females.
This poor educational status of Muslim women at primary and secondary school level completely curbs the possibility of their entering institutions of higher education and all over development. In general perception, these women are typically seen as a secluded section and unrecognized in their homogeneity. To highlight their problems means, to do no more than observing the influence of religion and personal law in their lives and emphasizing the usual stereotypes i.e. pardah (veil), multiple marriages, triple talaq (divorce) and so on. Despite these differences, when compared to women from other faiths in India, the majority of Muslim women are among the most disadvantaged, least literate, most economically impoverished and politically marginalized sections of Indian society. Muslim women are secluded and conditioned to such an exploitative situation in their lives and the matter of fact that they accept the fatwas (verdicts) passed by religious leaders. They need to be seen as citizens and social beings, entitled to the same rights that the Constitution of India grants to all its citizens. The right to education, especially at the primary level is mandated by the Constitution. The only solution to liberate them from the shackles of ignorance, illiteracy, exploitation is through education that could help them tremendously to be part of mainstream development.
 In order to improve the situation the first thing need to do is Area Intensive Education Approach that should be applied to all educationally backward regions focusing on Muslim Minority dominated area. Also, there is a need for expansion of secondary and higher secondary education especially for rural Muslim girls by improving the school infrastructure, increasing accessibility to schools by providing free transportation, road connectivity, safe environment and constructing the higher secondary schools near to the villages and towns. It may also help to reduce the drop outs of the girls in the middle of school. As twelve years of formal schooling is required for entry into diplomas, technical and professional education courses or general higher education.
References:
1.      Sushila Jain, 1988, “The Process of Modernization in India and the Status of Muslim Women” in Status of Women (ed) Sushila Aggrawal  p. 78.
2.       Nevdita Giri, 2006, “Laws Institution and Women’s Right in India” in Laws Institution and Women’s Right in India (ed) by Tapan Biswal, New Delhi, Viva Book Pvt. Ltd. p. 302
3.        A. S. Anand, 2003, Justice For Women, New Delhi, Universal Law Publishing Company P. 16
4.       Nevdita Giri, 2006, “Laws Institution and Women’s Right in India” in Laws Institution and Women’s Right in India (ed) by Tapan Biswal, Opp. Cit P. 302
5.      Dr. Annie John, 2012, Educational Status Of Muslim Women In India, Review Of Research, Vol.1,Issue.VI/March; 12pp.1-4
6.      Asghar Ali Engineer, 2005, Islam Women and Gender Justice, New Delhi, Kalpaz Publishers.
7.      Sachar Committee Report, 2006, P.16.

Bibliography                  
1.     “An Analytical Study of Education of Muslim Women and Girls in India”, 2007-8, Ministry of Woman and Child Development, New Delhi, www.jeywin.com,.
2.     Afzal M. Wani, April 1996, “Enforcement of Mahr by Muslim women: A case for reconsideration”, Indian Journal of Social Work, 57:2, pp. 295306.
3.     Asghar Ali Engineer, 1995, “Problems of Muslim Women in India” Sangam Books Ltd.
4.     Dillip Kumar Tripathy and Asheesh Dubey, 2007, “Status of Muslim Women in India”,  PRM-27, Volume 11 No. 2.
5.     Dr. M.I.H. Farooqi, Sidrah, 2011, "MUSLIM SOCIETIES - RISE and FALL" Publishers, Lucknow. 
6.     Hameeda Naeem, , 2005,“The Problem of Muslim Women in India Special Focus on Kashmiri Women” in Women and Gender Justice (ed) by Asghar Ali Engineer, New Delhi, Kalpaz Publishers.
7.     Rakhshanda Jalili, June 2011 “Educating Muslim women in modern India: Problems and perspectives”, Culture and Media at Jamia Milia Islamia University, New Delhi, published by http://www.ummid.com.
8.     Shobha, Anuja, September 1982, “Muslim women and civil rights”, PUCL Bulletin. 
9.     Zakia A. Siddiqi, 1993, Anwar Jahan Zuberi, “Muslim Women: Problems and Prospects”,  Vikas Publishing House, New Delhi.
10.   Zoya Hasan and Ritu Menon, 2000-2001, “ORG-Marg Muslim Women's Survey”, by Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Library, New Delhi.

 *Independent Researcher, baderjehan@yahoo.com
Indian Journal of Youth Affairs: Vol. 17 (1) Jan-June 2013