Skip to main content

Muslim elite 'promote' English, regional languages: Just 0.8% enroll in Urdu schools

By Rajiv Shah
A new report, “A New Agenda For The Education Of Indian Muslims in the 21st Century”, claiming to be independent and non-sponsored, has said that the ascendancy of regional languages and English, both in education and in general use, has seen a corresponding decline of Urdu, which is particularly sharp among school-going Muslim children.
Pointing out that the number of people declaring Urdu as their first language has declined in 2011 to only 4.2% of the Indian population, suggesting that only about 30% of Muslims declared Urdu as their first language, the report, authored by Dr John Kurrien, says that even Maharasthra, which has the largest proportion of students studying in Urdu medium schools, only 6.7% get enrolled in Urdu medium sections.
Pointing out that even the 6.7% figure is misleading, the report says, “Less than 2% of all students were enrolled in ‘complete’ Urdu medium schools, i.e. those that had all the sections/ stages from primary to higher secondary”, adding, “The proportion of Urdu enrollment in other incomplete 38 schools which had only secondary or higher secondary sections or both, was also very limited, ranging from 1.1% to 5.6%.
Enrolment in Urdu medium schools for the country as a whole is far worse, says the report, noting, “While the total proportion of students in Urdu medium sections is 2%, only 0.8% of all Indian students are enrolled in Urdu medium schools which have all four schools stages/sections from primary to higher secondary.”
Student enrollment in Maharashtra schools
Suggesting that quality of education among Urdu medium schools has taken a backseat, the report says, “A large-scale survey of reading and writing levels of primary students in Municipal Corporation schools of Mumbai indicated that Urdu medium students fared significantly lower in reading and writing than Hindi and Marathi medium students. In Class 3, as many as 54.3% of Urdu medium students were classified as unable to read, and 58.8% as unable to write.”
Even as pointing out that “many historical and cultural factors account for the close affinity for Urdu among various Muslim communities in different regions of India”, the report says, “Wealthy Muslims have for decades before and after independence studied in English medium schools. Aspiring middle class educated Muslims, after independence, also began opting for English medium education for their children to secure employment.”
Suggesting that the Muslim elite in urban areas are fast promoting non-Urdu medium school, the report says, “There were about a dozen English medium schools in Bangalore run by Muslims in 1982, by around 2016 this had expanded to 450 schools.” It adds, “The abandoning of any patronage or espousal of Urdu in schools by the aspiring middle class and wealthier Muslims resulted in a corresponding decline of Urdu medium schools.”
In fact, the report asserts, “Contrary to established language policies, states all over India have undertaken various initiatives to introduce government English medium schools”, and this is not just true of urban areas. It quotes a “recent large-scale study on preschool education in rural India” documenting Muslim parents from a random sample of 357 villages in the 3 states of Assam, Rajasthan and Telengana – all of whom “preferred preschools with English as a medium of instruction!”
Student enrollment across India: English medium vs Urdu medium
Suggesting that even madrasas, which are said to promote Urdu as the medium of instruction, especially in North India, the report quotes expert as stating that “in Bengal, Assam, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the medium of instruction was the regional languages.”
In Karnataka, the report further quotes a Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIOI) study of 55 madrasas, stating, about 50% of the madrasas offered Kannada as a subject, pointing out, “Many madrasa students immersed in religious instruction in Arabic and Urdu would find it far more difficult than regular students to cope with academic requirements when they transition to mainstream educational institutions.”
Coming to the gender factor in education among Muslims, the report quotes a note on minority education prepared for members of Parliament, which indicated that, in 2011-12, though more Muslim girls than boys were attending government and government-aided schools at the elementary level, the ratio of Muslim girls to Muslim boys in private unaided schools was 0.78.
While this suggests that “due to higher fee, poor parents may not be sending girls to private unaided schools”, it also shows the parents’ “choice of English medium schools for Muslim boys and Urdu medium for Muslim girls”, the report underlines.

Comments

Uma said…
Who can blame them? Don't our politicians, across the board, do the same, while shouting at the top of their lungs that regional languages MUST be promoted?

Aurthur said…
This is a sad news. May be which is why students prefer Intensive English Program online
Corine Harris said…
This article is brimming with information about best Islamic English medium school, hanging tight for more like this. I have additionally discovered an article anybody can check for more data to Guidance International School . It was knowingly more instructive. You may discover more insights regarding it here.

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Invincible, Modi 'taller' than BJP, RSS: An opportunity for Congress beyond 2024?

By NS Venkataraman*  With the announcement of poll schedule for the 2024 parliamentary election, there is palpable excitement and expectation amongst the countrymen  about the shape of things to happen in India after the  results of the election would be announced. There is also speculation abroad about the future course of developments in India.