NEW DELHI: In a big boost to school education, the number of Muslim girl students enrolling in schools has seen a significant increase in the primary and upper-primary classes. Based on a study conducted in specific Muslim dominated areas across the country, the Ministry of Human Resource Development has found that the schools in those areas now constitute half of the Muslim girl students.
The study conducted by the HRD ministry, in collaboration with Jamia Millia Islamia University, covering government, private schools as well as the madrasas, have found that the parents from the Muslim community are slowly taking interest in sending their girl children to school.
At the upper primary level, the percentage of girls among the Muslim students was 50.1 per cent, which was even higher than the percentage of girl students from other communities (48.7 per cent). Among the states, a discernible difference in percentage of girls among Muslim and non-Muslim students in primary classes was noticed in Haryana and Madhya Pradesh. In both the states, the percentage of girls among Muslim students at primary-level was much higher than that of non-Muslim students.
The report said that at the madrasas too, the numbers of enrolment of Muslim girls were equal to that of boys. Titled the ‘Assessment of facilities available for primary and upper primary education in Muslim pre-dominant areas’, the report said that while less Muslim girls left school in the age group of 6-11, percentage of Muslim girls (57.3 per cent) leaving schools in the age group of 11-14 was higher than non-Muslims (54.2 per cent).
Significantly, the report has said that Muslim parents are not averse to modern or mainstream education and are sending their children to the government schools. “Therefore, the notion that Muslims prefer only madrasa education is wrong,” the report said, adding that only three per cent of Muslim children are now sent to the madrasas.
Talking about girls’ education in general, parents had varied views. In Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, majority of parents felt that the girls can study only up to the level for which educational facilities are available in the village. They were reluctant to send their daughters outside the village for education.
Some of them fixed class 10 as the upper study-limit for girls. In Karnataka, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh, most of the parents wanted education for girls at least up to class 12. In Gujarat, however, some parents said that the girls can study up to the level they wish to.