Might this be the real cause of Muslim “backwardness”?

The question was prompted by these excerpts fom Salil Tripathi‘s “An excuse called Rushdie(emphasis added):

Only one out of every six Muslim children entering an Indian school stays till his matriculation. I use “his” deliberately; the figures are worse for girls—only two out of five Muslim girls enter schools, and fewer than one-tenth complete secondary education.

These stark dropout rates explain the malaise affecting Indian Muslims, and unless that’s addressed, all other solutions are ineffective.

Such low enrolment figures and high dropout rates mean that only one of 25 undergraduate students, and barely one out of 50 postgraduate students in Indian universities, is a Muslim. India defines literacy rather generously, and yet Muslim literacy rate is only 59.1%. According to the Rajinder Sachar committee’s report in 2006, Muslim enrolment at the Indian Institutes of Management was 1.3%, and at the Indian Institutes of Technology, out of 27,161 students, only 894, or some 3.3%, were Muslim.

The consequence? Inevitably restricted professional opportunities. Just about 5% of applicants for the civil service examinations are Muslim, and of the elite bureaucracy, only 3% of Indian Administrative Services, 1.8% of the Indian Foreign Service, and 4% of the Indian Police Service, are Muslim. The figures improve marginally in other government departments, but only just. Muslims form 4.5% of employees in the railways, and an astonishing 98.7% of them are employed at lower levels. In other departments, such as education, health, and transport, representation varies between 4% and 7% of the total number of employees.

Lacking education and skills, many Muslim men and women find it hard to get jobs, and many end up being self-employed. While 44% of Muslim women are economically active (in itself a low figure) only 25% work outside their homes. Many men work in small businesses. Such jobs typically have minimal protection—no unions, poor work conditions, limited probability of training or advancement and low wages.

Even if they become entrepreneurs, credit may be hard to access without paper qualifications. Figures bear that out: the loans that average Muslim borrowers get are smaller than the loans others get. Furthermore, between 2000 and 2006, of the Rs. 266 billion that the Small Industries Development Bank of India disbursed, Muslims received only Rs. 1.24 billion…

And what does the government do? It “promises” to keep madrassas outside the purview of the RTE Act, thus making sure that there is no move to reform and formalise madrassa education . As the report (in the link notes):

Almost 90% of underprivileged Muslim children attend madrassas. However, devoid of a modern curriculum, madrassas are unable to equip these students for the contemporary job market.  This in turn limits their economic opportunities. By bringing madrassas under the provisions of the RTE Act, the Islamic seminaries will be forced to submit to universal standards and modernise.

..and goes on to promise them additional money from the coffers. Sometimes I wonder, where is the enlightened Muslim leadership? Why does it remain silent? Do Muslims not realize that these moves are leading to further ghettoization, further alienation and widening of the chasm between a rapidly modernizing society and the Muslim community? and worse – fueling further resentment among non-Muslims?

P.S. Some of you may have noticed I put “backwardness” with quotes in the title. The reason is that there is scant data to support such “backwardness” – although it is increasingly taken as a “given” in any discourse on development. The reason for my doubt/scepticism is here.  Comment and thoughts welcome, as always..

Related Post: Literacy rates and “first claims”… UPDATED

More on Sachar, OBCs, reservations etc… and Communal Reservations via the back door? and Dividing India: One bit at a Time

 

B Shantanu

Political Activist, Blogger, Advisor to start-ups, Seed investor. One time VC and ex-Diplomat. Failed mushroom farmer; ex Radio Jockey. Currently involved in Reclaiming India - One Step at a Time.

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15 Responses

  1. Katyaru says:

    The additional point is that Muslims (in Russia, afterwards) are speaking a lot about education. Too much, may be… If we discuss some new school-programs, some changes – they’re always near to say that there should be the right place for muslim students. But the picture outside the class-rooms surprises: I’m not ready with statistic figures, but surelly there’re no many high-educated muslims around (in non-muslim region, like Moscow). So, their attantion, payed on education, spreads somehow…

  2. 1. State enforced and influenced education does NOT benefit ANYONE. There is ample proof of that. Besides the facts and figures which prove that State education fails and leads to lower quality education, one can derive from moral principles the dangers of State education.

    2. Muslims are NOT interested in education in the modern world as it violates the Islamic way of life as mentioned in the Quran. They should be free to choose to participate in civil society and the free market.

    3. The best way to ensure highest quality education is to privatize all education by encouraging home schooling and schools run by Ramakrishna Ashram and others like them.

    4. Muslims are rarely interested in civil society and their participation is further discourgaed by political parties, politicans and govt to buy their votes.

    5. Remember all politicians and political parties benefit from the divide and rule policy.

  3. Katyaru says:

    I’m also interested: if the figures are true for the regions where muslims are the majority? For in Russia in such regions (like Tatarstan)the most high-level buisnesmen, managers and officials are muslim. So we can assume that they are educated and skilled enough.

  4. v.c.krishnan says:

    Dear Shantanu,
    You are right, the type of education the Muslims receive may be a cause for their backwardisation.
    I know Shri. Sulatn Ahmed and he speaks impeccable tamil, even better then me, and is the foremost adviser on ecological problems for many institutions.
    The problem is that they have been ghottoised so long by their detractors, mainly treating them as vote banks, rather than people, that has been their cause of backwrdness.
    If we bring them to the mainstream I am sure there may be more Abdul Kalam’s than India can imagine.
    Some of the best IT people I have known come from this section.
    It is time somebody takes them out of the ghettos and they become a a part of BHARAT.
    Regards,
    vck

  5. B Shantanu says:

    “It is time somebody takes them out of the ghettos and they become a a part of BHARAT.”
    Well said, vck!

  6. vivek says:

    The biggest enemy of the forward thinking Muslim- like Vastanvi who wanted to modernize the Deobandi teaching system- is the bien pensant ‘secular’ intellectual who claims to be the champion and protector of his community.
    If Syed Shahubuddin denounces the Hajj subsidy on both religious and economic grounds- the media will ignore him. Why? Because he is putting forward solid reasons. However, the Media and Rajiv bhaiyya were very happy to listen to him when he demanded the ban of Rushdie’s book. Similarly, when Arif Mohammad Khan spoke up for right to alimony (Shah Bano case) he became persona non grata. That was at a time when Rajiv’s position was unassailable. He had a huge majority. He was the darling of the Nation.
    What is the point of this Secularism which does not want people to progress or for an All India identity to assert itself in open competition on the Global Stage?
    Some argue that things will be better when Rahul baba puts his bottom on the P.M’s kursi. But he won’t have- no Indian politician in the foreseeable future will have- the sort of mandate that his father did.

  7. Ankit says:

    If you had read the Sachar report, you would have realised that only 3-4% of Muslim kids go to Madrassas.

    The real cause is lack of primary schools in Muslim areas. On top of discrimnation against Muslim kids in private schools in urban areas because they tend to be poorer than average.

    Infact, most of the schools and colleges built in Muslim areas are built not by the govt. but by Muslim donations and private money.

    This equitable distribution has to be corrected. The govt. should be focussing on getting more primary schools built and teachers made available rather than Madrassas were only 3-4 % of kids go.

  8. v.c.krishnan. says:

    Ankit: You are right but as Vivek puts it across immediately the psuedo press will conveniently ignore it/find flaws with it –like that the ladies toilet is placed in the rear and the gents in the front so are ladies inferior to gents something as stupid and irrelevant as that/that it is built for communal purposes etc.
    I think these people should be asked to send their children to other schools rather than expect them to have schools built within their radius. Abdul Kalam was educated by walking to school for more than a kilometer or more each day. Even today in my village children walk more than two or three kilometers and attend school. Some of them have become Engineers and even gone abroad for work in the field of IT and Nursing etc.
    Their are institutions which are running Single teacher schools in many towns and villages in Tamilnadu and they can attend it. It is the will that matters.
    Regards,
    vck

  9. Kaffir says:

    “The real cause is lack of primary schools in Muslim areas.”

    Ankit, so why hasn’t the liberal and secular Congress Party (or the CPI, or CPI(M)) – which has been championing the cause of Muslims since 1947 – not built those primary schools in Muslim areas during the 50+ years it has been in power at the center (and also in numerous states many times)? How many years does it take for a government in power – many times with absolute majority, and also forming successive governments – to build such primary schools?

    BTW, how does the school-going percentage/education level of other minorities in India – Parsis, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Jews – fare when compared to Muslims?

  10. Ashish says:

    @kaffir

    what would be the reason? Its Muslims who do not want to have western education and hence they force govt to build madarsas instead OR the parties are very know that once muslims get proper education they will not going to vote them?

  11. Kaffir says:

    Ashish, I was hoping that Ankit would answer those questions, since he brought up the issue of schools, education and Muslims. Also, my questions were partly rhetorical in nature.

    Ankit, are you still here? If you’re reading, please answer my questions. 🙂

  12. v.c.krishnan says:

    Ashish. You have hit the nail on the head. If the Muslims get educated the Mullahs and the Politicians will have no work to do.
    You must understand that as far as I know the Old Testament even God punished Adam and Eve his own children which he lovingly created to eternal damnation for “EATING THE FRUIT OF KNOWLEDGE”
    So why make a hype of the politicians or the MUllahs.
    Regards,
    vck

  13. Anita says:

    @Kaffir

    What the hell does Congress party and seculars have to do with lack of primary schools in Muslim areas. Why do people like you always have to bring Congress when we discuss Muslim backwardness issues. Please talk sense.

    @Others
    I work with an NGO that provides schooling to poor and Muslims are no different than any other poor. These myths about Mullahs stopping people from education or Muslims preferring madrassas for their children are all myths when you actually go and work in the field.

    The fact is that until the Sachar report and its impact, there has been no conscious effort to focus on social uplifment of poor Muslims wether it be Congress or BJP govt. On the other hand, there has been focus on SC/ST/OBC poor which have shown a lot of improvement in the last 50-60 years.

    Now that there is atleast some focus on poor Muslims as well. (Not the same as SC/ST who still get 10 times more resources than any other socio-economic group), you can already see the improvement.

    Muslim girl enrolment ratios is higher than the national average and accroding to the latest surveys we did, there was almost close 90% enrollment in primary and 80% enrollment in secondary for Muslims as compared to 95% national average for primary and 84% for secondary.

    Its time we consider all citizens as our own people and help in upliftment of ALL without bias rather than coming up with inane excuses of why we should not help poor SC/ST or minorities or even upper caste for that matter
    http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-07-28/india/28313879_1_enrolment-muslim-girls-muslim-children

  14. B Shantanu says:

    Re. “enlightened Muslim leadership”, this is worth a read A few questions for Indian Muslims by Zafar Sareshwala, June 13, 2013