

MALAPPURAM: The Muslim Educational Society (MES) on Tuesday slammed Samastha Kerala Jem-Iyyathul Ulama and president Syed Muhammad Jifri Muthukoya Thangal, saying they should refrain from interfering in the education of Muslim girls.
MES president Fazal Gafoor made the remark during a press meet in Malappuram, as a counter to Thangal’s recent statement that the education of girls from the community should be within the stipulated limits of the religion.
“A majority of Muslim girls are not bothered by the advice of the religious organisations. They are going abroad, including Georgia and Ukraine, to pursue higher education,” Gafoor said.
Referring to the recent Lok Sabha elections, Gafoor said Samastha was incapable of influencing voters. “One of our opinion polls proved it. We took the opinion of 5,000 students. Of them, just 4.5% said religious organisations are influencing them to make political decisions,” Gafoor said. He also demanded that the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) be scrapped and the state government conduct an entrance test equivalent to it, considering the question paper leak and other misappropriations related to the earlier test.