Opinion When everyday bias shapes a community’s life, how much can internal reform really accomplish?
No one can argue against the idea of reform. But Najeeb Jung and Hilal Ahmed overlook the impact of structural discrimination
For Muslim groups, due to a lack of support and budget curtailment, getting a modern education has become a hurdle Written by Jawed Alam Khan and Manjur Ali
Recently, Najeeb Jung and Hilal Ahmad argued for internal reforms among Muslims as part of the struggle for justice (IE, January 26). One cannot agree more with the idea of reform. Throughout the article, the writers have argued that despite the adverse political situation, “reform is not capitulation, it is self-respect.” They prescribe reforms, especially in sectors like education and gender justice. Prevalent practices such as dowry and non-implementation of inheritance rights were highlighted in the article. Undoubtedly, Muslims must act against dowry and extravagant expenditure in marriage and implement the inheritance rights. However, the authors have used more space emphasising the first priority: Education, including the modernisation of the madrasa.
The question is whether efforts spent on educational reform, or any kind of reform for that matter, can be disassociated from the overall political environment in which anti-Muslimness appears to have been accepted as a core governing philosophy. Second, Muslims have not been against the idea of reform in education, especially in Madrasas. To argue otherwise is to reiterate an old and clichéd argument formulated by Indian Muslim elites. The elite see the Madrasa as an institution keen on producing uninformed citizens.
However, Muslims happily accepted the implementation of schemes such as the Modernisation of the Madrasa Scheme (MoMS) and Scheme for Providing Quality Education in Madrasas (SPQEM) started by the UPA government. It was the NDA government that financially starved the schemes, leading to their closure. Moreover, the communal environment in the country discourages Muslim girls who wear religious markers, such as the Hijab, from attending schools and colleges, thereby directly affecting the education of Muslim women. The distance they need to travel to get to school is directly proportional to the drop-out among the Muslim girls, as it raises the safety concern among the parents. Also, communal polarisation has affected the educational environment within campuses. Nazia Erum (2017), in her book Mothering A Muslim, recorded the increase in hate against Muslim students in the schools. Look at how, in 2022, in a renowned institution in Karnataka, a professor reportedly called a Muslim student a “terrorist.” Further, the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 promotes the “Rationalisation of School Complex”, but does not mention anything about madrasas in Minority Concentration Districts (MCD).
So, on one hand, the majoritarian view emphasises that Muslims are more focused on religious education and do not bother about modernisation; on the other, all possible means seem to be used in order to stop Muslims from being educated.
Recent incidents in Madhya Pradesh and Jammu offer further evidence of this. In Dhaba village in Betul district, Madhya Pradesh, a man named Abdul Naeem opened a school with his own savings. The school was bulldozed by the administration following a complaint that he is planning to run an “illegal madrasa.” The second is the incident at Sri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence in Jammu. While the college was ordered to shut down its MBBS course by the National Medical Council, citing shortfalls in infrastructure, the move came close on the heels of protests from Hindutva groups over 42 out of 50 students in the institute’s first batch being Muslim.
Education ensures socio-economic mobility. However, for Muslim groups, due to a lack of support and budget curtailment, getting a modern education has become a hurdle. In recent years, a decline in the budget allocation for the Ministry of Minority Affairs (MoMA) has been noted. The major reason behind the decline in the allocation of MoMA has been the discontinuation of several schemes/institutions, such as the Maulana Azad National Fellowship for minority students, limiting coverage of the Pre-Matric scholarship for classes 9-10, closing the Maulana Azad Education Foundation (MAEF), and other schemes for madrasas. These structural questions lie unaddressed behind the rhetoric of reforms. Structural discrimination cannot be overlooked if we really want to uplift the socio-political and economic lives of the largest minority in the country.
Khan is with the Institute of Policy Studies and Advocacy (IPSA), New Delhi, and Ali is with the GIRI Institute of Development Studies, Lucknow
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