Letter 038; Spirit

Today, the gross student enrollment ratio is more than 80 per cent of the eligible population, with boys and girls sharing the honours equally. Kashmir produces more than 16,000 graduates every year and the number of postgraduates cross 3,000 annually. The latest statistics of the Directorate of School Education are even more encouraging. Last year, the new enrollment in primary classes, for the previous academic year alone, exceeded 5.3 lakh. The ratio of boy-girl enrollment stands at 50.3: 49.7. Considering the 937:1000 sex ratio of the state, the enrollment ratio is clearly in favour of girls.

The figures for higher education, too, are as encouraging. Of the 57,000 students enrolled in colleges, more than 25,000 are girls. The numbers from the varsity also supports the trend. The literacy rate of the state, though below the national average, tells a story of grit and determination. Despite the atmosphere of fear and the education infrastructure suffering from the ongoing conflict, the number of literates has increased by 25 per cent in the last two decades. Women8217;s literacy has registered a 23 per cent increase during the same period. In the border district of Kupwara8212;one of the most backward regions of rural Kashmir8212;female literacy has climbed to 29 per cent in 2001 from just 5 per cent in 1981.Kargil, the Muslim-majority district of Ladakh, has the most surprising figures. In the last two decades, female literacy here has gone up from 3 per cent to 42 per cent.

The Muslim women of the Valley, unlike their counterparts in other parts of the country, have broken the confines of their traditional role. Take Kashmir8217;s radical women8217;s organisation, Dukhtaran-e-Millat. Its chairperson, Syeda Aasiya Andrabi, is a postgraduate in Home Science and most of its top leaders are either post-graduates or graduates from the University of Kashmir.

8220;Despite all odds, Kashmiri Muslims never compromised with the education of their daughters,8221; says Prof Hameed Naseem Rafiabadi, who teaches Islamic Studies at the University of Kashmir. 8220;This acquisition of education is a part of the belief system. Islam allowed education to the women when such a notion was unthinkable. Even the Prophet8217;s wife Aisha was a legal expert. She used to teach great companions of Prophet Muhammad. Islam or Muslim society never suppressed the women,8221; Rafiabadi explains, quoting a Prophet8217;s tradition: 8220;Acquisition of knowledge is compulsory for both men and women.8221;

Rafiabadi blames political motives for projecting the Muslim stereotypes: 8220;Our religious leaders too are responsible for it denial of education to women. They are not projecting the true picture of Islam.8221;

The figures from the Valley, however, don8217;t reflect any gender discrimination in education. The number of boys and girls enrolled at primary, college and university level correspond to the male-female sex ratio. In fact, the statistics favour the girls in certain cases.

8220;The profile of our girls is different from that of Indian Muslims,8221; says Professor Madhosh. 8220;There is no gender discrimination. On the one hand, true understanding of religion and, on the other, good education have stood women in good stead.8221;

The parents, too, are ready to invest in the education of their daughters. For example, Ghulam Nabi Monga, an advocate from Srinagar, has paid a large sum as capitation fee for his two daughters8212;studying medicine and engineering in Bangalore. 8220;Education is the basic right irrespective of gender,8221; he says. 8220;I have provided my daughters every opportunity of good education. My religion has taught me this.8221; Monga says it is absurd to think of investment in girl8217;s education as futile because they have to leave the parental home after marriage. 8220;We too get daughters from other families,8221; he says, 8220;as the wives of our sons.8221;

With an MSc in Environmental Sciences from the Kashmir University, daughter Hena Khan is determined to go ahead with her research. 8220;I have never been discriminated against by my parents,8221; she says. 8220;When my brother asked for capitation fees, my father said 8216;no8217;. But when I asked for it, he agreed.8221;

Then there are the government8217;s initiatives. In 1989, the administration decided to reserve 50 per cent of seats for women in the medical colleges of the state. It helped. Today, many among the faculty of the Government Medical College, Srinagar, are women. In fact, some departments8212;like forensic sciences, microbiology8212;are run solely by the women staff.

Six decades after Independence, the Muslim stereotype still doesn8217;t paint a very bright picture of the community8217;s or the country8217;s future. But in the Valley, even two decades of turmoil has failed to snatch away the faith. For these men and women, as Professor Madhosh puts it, knowledge is the best road to emancipation and equality.

BORN EQUALS

A signpost installed at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Memorial JLNM hospital in Srinagar warns the doctors against the pre-natal sex determination. 8220;The PNDT Pre Natal Sex Determination Test Act is already in force in Jammu and Kashmir,8221; informs Dr Muzaffar Ahmad, director, Health and Medical Education H038;ME. 8220;However, we have not received even a single complaint in the Valley so far.8221; The male-female sex ratio of the state supports this trend.

At a healthy 937 females per 1,000 males, Jammu and Kashmir scores well above the national average of 927:1,000. Dr Bushra Farooq, a senior gynaecologist of Srinagar, says that the 8220;almost negligible termination of pregnancies8221; has resulted in a better sex ratio in the Valley. 8220;Unlike Punjab and Haryana, people here are not inclined towards pre-natal sex determination and/or termination of pregnancies. There is hardly any gender discrimination in choosing a child,8221; she claims. 8212; B Masood