E’s for education, E’s for eligible

Citing another example, Sheikh said, ‘‘I also know of a female teacher who could not find a well-educated boy. Finally, she had to compromise and marry.”

Taking note of this situation, a number of Muslim organisations are planning to promote education for boys. For this, they have formed the Sarkhej Area Welfare Organisations’ Federation, said Sheikh.

There have been cases where educated women have remained unmarried. ‘‘Muslim organisations are now trying to promote higher education among boys by trying to decrease their drop-out ratio,’’ said Shamsuddin Pirzada, a retired judge living in Juhapura.

Mehrunissa Desai, president of Ahmedabad Muslim Women’s Association , said: ‘‘The state census data states that Muslim men have higher literacy rate than the women — 69.64 to 53.63 per cent. The boys may be more literate, but the girls are ahead in terms of higher education.”

Desai blames socio-economic problems: ‘‘The boys have to shoulder family responsibilities. After studying up to Std X, they begin to work in garages or small shops to earn money.’’

This topic was raised at a seminar held in Juhapura last Sunday. About 250 graduate women attended the seminar. ‘‘It would have been tougher if we had to get 250 graduate men. Today, when the Gujarat State Waqf Board felicitates bright students from the Muslim community in Ahmedabad, 75 per cent of them are girls,’’ said Ibrahim Sheikh.