From: ag3l+@andrew.cmu.edu (Arun K. Gupta)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh,soc.culture.pakistan,soc.culture.indian
Subject: Education: Muslims in Tamil Nadu
Date: 6 Apr 92 12:33:18 GMT
Organization: Physics, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA


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Educational Landscape of Tamil Nadu: Muslim Contribution.

by N.A. Ameer Ali
(General Secretary, All India Muslim Educational Society,
Tamil Nadu Unit.)
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The All India Muslim Educational Conference held at Madras in the year
1901 caused a mild stir in the minds of Muslims of Tamil Nadu, in the
sense that they began to think of exploring avenues of education for
their progeny. The Muslim Educational Association of Southern Indian
was born in 1902.


In the decades that followed Muslims were motivated to start a number
of educational associations in the cities and towns of Tamil Nadu. The
upshot was the establishment of Muslim primary and elementary schools.
Muslims, a community of traders, should have found it not very
profitable to send their children to schools.  These educational effort
would have met a premature death but for the Deccani Muslims who as
avid office-goers took to education like ducks to water. This resulted
in the growth of Muslim educational institutions in Tamil Nadu.

Besides societies and associations which promote education among
Muslims, there were some philanthropists who were responsible for
giving a fillip to education. Donors to the cause of education like
Kaka Omar (Sr.), Nawab C. Abdul Hakim, Jamal Mohammed, Karutha Rawther,
Kader Mohideen, Anaikar Abdul Shukoor, and the doyen of women's
education, Justice Basheer Ahmed Sayeed, set up or caused to set up
institutions which are standing monuments to their glory.

Educational institutions run by Muslims in Tamil Nadu fall into the
following categories:
1) Religious Arabic Madrasas
2) Oriental Arabic Schools
3) Nursery Schools
4) Elementary Schools
5) Middle Schools
6) High Schools
7) Higher Secondary Schools
8) Arts, Science and Commerce Colleges
9) Engineering Colleges
10)Polytechnics
11)I.T.I.s
12)Teacher training schools
13)Orphanages to which religious Madrasas or schools are attached

All these categories of institutions are meant for girls or boys or both.

Madrasas:

There are about 50 Madrasas in Tamil Nadu, the earliest being the
Madrasa Baqiathus Salihath, Vellore, founded in 1884.  These Madrasas,
organised in a traditional manner, offer a 7-year course leading to
Alim.  Hifza -- memorization of the Holy Quran -- is also taught to
some of the students who have the aptitude for it. For them there is no
common curriculum, board of studies, or board of examination in Tamil
Nadu.  They do not even meet in a common sports arena. It must be noted
here that in Kerala the Dakshina Jamiat-ul-Ulema Sangam prescribes a
common curriculum for all the Madrasas in the State.

In almost all of these Madrasas board and lodging is free.  No minimum
educational qualifications are prescribed.  Except for a handful of
Madrasas which send their wards to secular schools to learn math.,
science, history, etc., all of them concentrate on Arabic and religious
learning. Though many of their pupils are school dropouts and family
rejects, they do the wonderful work of shaping them into good moulvis,
i.e., religious teachers.

Jamalia - Perambur, Darusalam - Omerabad, Baqiath - Vellore, are among
the few which prepare their students for a University Diploma in either
Afzal-ul-Ulma (Arabic), or Munshi-e-Fazil (Persian) or Adib-e-Fazl
(Urdu). The need to streamline the Madrasa system in Tamil Nadu by
introducing an element of science education, or technical training is
being keenly felt.  In one or two Madrasas a move in this direction in
under way.

The products of these Madrasas mostly depend for jobs on mosques and
madrasas, supported by the community. If these Maulvis are made to
acquire secular education up to matriculation level and a teaching
diploma, they may have opportunities of an independent living.


The Oriental Arabic schools are perhaps peculiar to Tamil Nadu. Such a
system does not prevail elsewhere in India. Students offer the common
science and humanities stream subjects in these schools plus three
papers on Arabic language. Since there are no Higher Secondary schools
offering the same pattern of education, the products of these schools
have to take to the normal pattern of education offered in higher
secondary schools. But when these students go to college, they can
offer Arabic under Part I and also under Part III in B.A., leading to a
post-graduate degree in Arabic.


Secondary and Higher Secondary Schools:

Muslims are running in all parts of Tamil Nadu, Urdu, Tamil and English
medium schools both for boys and girls, separate as well as
co-educational, right from nursery to higher secondary school levels.
These are around 200 in number. A few of them are matriculation
schools, which offer English as a medium throughout. The schools follow
a common syllabus having books prescribed by the State Board. Most of
them are feeder institutions. The secondary, matriculation and higher
secondary schools send their students for examinations conducted by a
State Board. Except for the vocational stream, which is supposed to be
terminal, other streams lead to professional as well as arts courses.
All the districts except Chingleput in Tamil Nadu have Muslim schools.
In spite of the existence of an umbrella organization called the OMEIAT
(this is dealt with in detail below) all the schools are not members of
this organization. They have also not devised any other method of
coming together, on either the curricular or extra-curricular plane.
They may face a number of problems. But perhaps they believe more in
individually tackling their own problems than through concerted
efforts.
Except for the matriculation schools among them, all schools offer free
education. They receive grants-in-aid from the government. Of these
schools special mention is to be made of Crescent Residential school in
Madras since it is the only one of its kind run by Muslims. Its infra-
structural facilities are comparable to Doon and Lawrence, conforming
to international standards as regarding accommodation. Results are
usually 100 percent, both at matriculation and higher secondary levels.
It gets students from Maharastra, UP, Delhi, AP, Karnataka, Kerala,
Tamil Nadu as well as from countries of the Near and Middle East.
Arabic, Hindi and Tamil are offered under Part I. Subjects under the
science and art streams are also offered. Reading of the Quran, regular
prayers and strict discipline are the hallmarks of this institution.


Colleges:

Coming to the tertiary level, there are thirteen Muslim colleges
offering course in arts, science and commerce, from degree to Ph.D.
levels. These colleges come under Madras, Madurai Kamaraj and
Bharathidasan Universities, which regulate course contents and
examinations and awards degrees.

In general, these colleges are doing well except for the fact that none
of them has earned the credit of becoming an autonomous college. All of
them except one receive 100 percent grants from the State Govt., plus
development and faculty improvement grants from the Univ. Grants
Commission.

The oldest among these is the Islamiah College, Vaniyambadi, which was
started as an intermediate college in the year 1921. The latest is the
Muslim Arts College, Kanyakumari, started in 1984, which functions on a
self-financing basis. Most of the Arts Colleges were started between
the years 1950 and 1970.

These colleges do not have a coordinating council, which could advise
them on the pattern of courses they should have for the greater benefit
of the community, with the result that at P.G. level, duplication of
courses has occurred. The community's resources being scarce, all
educational efforts should be cost effective for the community as a
whole.

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[to be continued]

arun gupta
ag3L@andrew.cmu.edu