Indian Express 2015-07-21

The Math Of The Matter

Both the supporters and critics of the Maharashtra government’s move to declare madrasas that do not teach modern science, mathematics and English as “non-schools” are missing the crux of the issue. The Maharashtra minority affairs minister says: “Madrasas are giving students education on religion and not giving them formal education… We have asked them to teach other subjects as well. Otherwise madrasas will be considered as non-schools and will not be eligible for government funding.” The state has sought to be even-handed: The term, “non-school”, will also apply to vedic schools that only teach religion. The data on how many schools are classified as madrasas in the state is unclear. According to one estimate, there are 600 institutions affiliated to the state madrasa board. But there are also many private institutions, beyond government grants and regulations. There are said to be some one lakh “poor” Muslim students enrolled in these institutions, who mostly receive education in Islamic theology. Though, it is also claimed that there are many among these institutions that teach modern subjects, including science and mathematics. However, these one lakh students are only 4 per cent of Muslim children of school-going age. The rest are apparently in regular schools. Critics accuse the state government of interference in Muslim religious matters, discrimination against a minority and violation of Article 30, which guarantees minorities the right to establish and administer their own educational institutions and forbids discrimination against them. Admittedly, even 4 per cent of the total is important and they can’t be denied the right to education, prescribed as compulsory. How absurd is it to claim that modern subjects are only for secular schools, not religious institutions that are to be recognised as schools? If Muslim-run institutions for religious education are recognised as “schools” and given grants from public funds, can we leave other religious institutions out? Can one imagine the chaos if every community set up its own religious education institutions and demanded they be recognised as schools eligible for public funding? Should public funds be used by a secular state for modern education or religious instruction? The insertion into the debate of the interests of lakhs of poor Muslim students is obfuscation. Under the Right to Education Act, governments are obliged to provide free education to all students. The poor are also entitled to free textbooks and uniforms. Why insist on madrasa education for poor Muslim students? Is it that the ulemas fear questioning, a shift from passive acceptance that threatens tradition and transforms societies into liberal, innovative thinking machines? In educational institutions attended by children of a single community, students know about only one religious text, learn about only one part of human history and are never exposed to children of other communities. After 10 or more years of this, these students are then made to go into the open, where there are others of their age with different educational, cultural and linguistic backgrounds, who are better able to handle the challenges of modern life. Recruiters from Taliban-like organisations like to fish in such waters, where entire communities feel pushed backwards and a sense of victimhood grows in the mind. A lesson must be learned from the example set by other communities, whose schools, even though administered as minority institutions, teach modern ideas and insist on a mix of students. But the belief that just the inclusion of English, math and science in the curriculum of madrasas would enable students to better deal with the contemporary world and help them develop a “modern” mindset is fallacious. Mere access to technology cannot help a person become “liberal”. These subjects are only tools. It is the mindset of the person that determines to what use these tools will be put to. In the absence of a catholic mindset, these modern tools usually end up promoting a medieval agenda of hate and bigotry. The sooner we realise this danger, the better. The “victim mindset” is the inevitable product of a ghettoised learning process, and persistent poverty, its signature tune.