Minutes of the Meeting on Access to Education for Children of Minority (24-11-2016)

Minutes of the Meeting on  Access to Education for Children of Minority (24-11-2016)

A small meeting was called to raise the issue of the lack of Muslim participation in the National Campaign for Right to Education and the role of Muslim organizations and networks in increasing Muslim community involvement in education. It was sought to be emphasized that the involvement of every section of Indian society was needed to demand an education system from the State that was State funded, inclusive and equitable, an education system that was not led by the political ideology of the times raising but one which remained neutral, apolitical and scientific at all times. The RTE Act, 2009, promises such an education system and therefore its full implementation in letter and spirit by the State is imperative. The RTE Forum monitors the implementation of the RTE Act, 2009 operating on a campaign mode. An education system that swayed with the political ideology of the ruling political party tended to give rise to education quality and inclusion issues.

The idea to have such a meeting was initiated by Naaz Khair in consultation with Navaid Hamid. Navaid Hamid, the President of Majlis-e-Mushawarat, offered to host the meeting at the Mushawarat office. It was attended by representatives of a few Muslim networks and interested individuals. Names of the participants are listed at the end of this report. Majlis-e-Mushawarat is an apex body of Muslim organizations. These are a mix of political, apolitical, social, religious and educational organizations with extensive community outreach.

Participants at the meeting discussed Muslim education issues and the issues of Muslim community led organizations, while exploring possibilities of Muslim networks and organisations working together with the RTE forum:

·         The participant from Muslim Education Trust (MET) said that the Trust is involved in extensive work with thousands of minority educational institutions. However, since the RTE Act came into force, a conflicting situation had developed between schools exempted from the RTE Act and those that had not been exempted. There was a need to take everyone along while working with the objectives of the RTE forum. The educational concerns of minority educational institutions are not in variance from the objective of the RTE Act. 

·         Small private schools or learning centres: There are almost 17000 such learning centres catering to more than 5 lac students. One third of these learning centres are Muslim managed.  There is a need to acknowledge the contribution of these learning centres and extend official recognition to them. The RTE norms for private school recognition cannot be applied on these learning centres, which are much smaller in size. Closing down educational institutions with sizeable population of children studying in them is not a solution. 

·         Sharing of experience by Chandrakanta from CSEI of sustained advocacy with the RTE Forum to ensure the Forum’s involvement around Article 12 (1) c of the RTE Act as this provision aimed at the creation of inclusive schools in the long term through sensitization of students from better off backgrounds when they came in contact with EWS and DA students.

·         Muslim children are grossly under-represented in the RTE quota seats in private schools.

·         Only a small section of Muslim students study in minority educational institutions and an even smaller in fact miniscule percentage of Muslim students go to madarsas. Predominantly, Muslim students depend upon government schools for education.

·         The longstanding issue of lack of adequate number of government schools in minority concentrated districts/blocks was (Muslim majority areas within these) was raised. Even if there are schools, many of them are not located within the stipulated distance of 1 Km from the Muslim inhabited areas. The RTE Act provides for school mapping. There is an urgent need for school mapping to be undertaken in Minority Concentrated Districts.

·         Need to study minority budget: Minority budgets are reducing in key educational areas including scholarships. Within Minority budgets those allocated for Muslims are not in sync with the development needs of the Muslim community- e.g. of Uttar Pradesh where huge budget was allocated for the fencing of graveyards. Budgets for Muslims are also frequently diverted and budget utilisation is also very poor leading to smaller size budgets for Muslims over time. 

·         There is no dearth of NGOs in the Muslim community. However, involvement of the Muslim community in the social sector is considerably weakened on account lack of funds with Muslim support organizations to capacitate the Community led organizations. There is almost no initiative on the part of mainstream civil society actors to strengthen the programmatic and organizational aspects of these organizations.

·         Jamia Nagar/Okhla is the hub of Muslim organizations operating in the state of Delhi and in some other states as well. It will be critical for the Delhi RTE Forum to align with these organizations and vice-versa.

·         There is a need for Muslim organizations/networks to align with the National RTE Forum as well as with the Delhi state RTE forum and vice-versa.

·         Muslim organizations operating on their own fear the threat of backlash from vested interests on  using RTI to monitor government programs.

·         The Muslim community needs to be a part of the political movement for a strong National Public System of Education funded by the State. It is a curious phenomenon that Muslims are missing from almost all mainstream institutions- e.g. of Gandhi Peace Foundation was given. While it is said that Muslims and Gandhians are natural allies, today at an institution like the Gandhi Peace Foundation, Muslims are virtually absent. Muslim organizations will have to proactively join mainstream movements. Civil society also needs to introspect on the near lack of participation of Muslim organisations in mainstream movements and initiatives.

·         The status of Muslim education is very poor. Education of Muslim girls, particularly in the rural areas, education of children from backward Muslim communities, overall emphasis on education of Muslim children in rural areas, education of poor Muslim children in urban areas, Muslim children out of school, etc, are areas that need to come on the agenda of Muslim organizations and the RTE Forum on a priority basis.

It was proposed that a meeting takes place between RTE Forum members (at least 15 participants) and representatives of key Muslim networks and Muslim organizations based in Delhi to take forward the discussions initiated in this small meeting. The 17^th of December has been proposed for the meeting.

Names of Participants

1.      Navaid Hamid- President of Majlis-e-Mushawarat

2.      Mozaffar Ali- Education Representative, Muslim Education Trust

3.      Arman Ansari- Swaraj India

4.      Mohd. Shadab- SIO Delhi

5.      Yasir Atiq- SIO Delhi

6.      G. A. Qadir- Hamdard Delhi

7.      Abdul Rashi Agwan

8.      Shaheen Ansari- Arkitect India

9.      Salma Khatoon (Phd)- Jamia Milia Islamia

10.  Chandrakanta Bharti- CSEI Delhi

11.  Naaz Khair- Freelancer, Education, Social Sector, Delhi

Prepared by Naaz Khair