How cute these children look in a Mumbai “ madarsa” , very disciplined, sensible and organized. If such institutions are teaching anti-social or anti-national aspects bordering on terrorism then we have to close them down. The Maharashtra government had taken a decision to de-recognise those Madarsas which don’t teach primary subjects. State Minorities Affairs Minister Eknath Khadse had said Madarsas which do not teach primary subjects such as English, Maths and Science would be considered as “non-schools” and children studying in them as “out of school” students.
According to him, madarsas only impart religious education. The government wants every child from the minority community to learn and enable them to get mainstream education. The state government’s decision came after madarasas failed to comply with the government directive to teach primary subjects like English, Science, Maths and Social Science to children. As per the Maharashtra government’s decision, funds will be provided to madarsas only if they follow formal school curriculum.
Madrasas are different from regular schools as these don’t follow a formal education curriculum and are not affiliated to any educational boards like the CBSE. There are a total of 1,890 registered madarsas in the state and 550 out of them have agreed to teach the four subjects to students. While campaigning for the elections the BJP had promised to provide financial assistance for the modernisation of madarsas but it has failed to implement it. On the other hand, the Congress and Samajwadi Party criticized the government and asked it stop interfering in the functioning of madarsas.
However, if students are studying only Urdu and no mathematics then it is not bad, let them operate. Later in life, they may learn more things.
Urdu is a good language. Few good songs have been written using Urdu expressions in Hindi films like “Sahabe alam ne meri peshani do baar chumi.” Songs from Dhool ka Phool, Mere Mehboob etc; were so beautifully written in Urdu. Mughal-e-Azam is a classic example of Urdu usage.
Government must pay urgent attention to the falling standards of University degrees and usage of fake degrees. Politicians possessing fake degrees must be asked to step down from their post for promoting clean governance and transparency. Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that one should speak in English only when it is required. Such a statement is unnecessary. English is predominantly used as a common language for communication and we are employing English teachers for our GP rating classes. Many of the good technical books are written in English. Earlier plenty of Russian books were translated into English. Let us improve standard of education in our colleges by imparting practical training to improve employability of our youth.