system overhaul?

Guwahati, July 18: Dispur is planning a madarsa board on the lines of Central Board of Secondary Education to introduce modern courses and increase employability of students passing out these traditional institutions.

The Tarun Gogoi government is expected to give its nod to the plan before 2011 Assembly poll to win the minority votes.

At present, the high madarsa from Classes VIII to X are under the Board of Secondary Education, Assam.

SEBA conducts the Assam high madarsa examinations annually for Class X madarsa students.

Under the new system, the madarsa, right from primary to secondary levels, would be under the proposed board.

“A majority of students who pass out from different madarsas after getting the highest degrees like Alimiat have very limited opportunities in the present competitive world. Most of them are seen either settling in a local masjid as imam or teacher in a madarsa. Considering the rise in the number of unemployed among madarsa students, many parents are now sending their children to mainstream schools instead of the madarsa,” a source in the directorate of madarsa education said.

At the primary madarsa and pre-senior madarsa, stress is on religious teaching.

Hence, the need to revamp or modernise the system.

Funds would not be a constraint in setting up the board, a source said.

The proposed madarsa board would incorporate professional and vocational courses.

Besides, syllabus of both Qaumi or Khariji (non-government or non-affiliated madarsas) and provincialised or government-funded madarsas will be modernised.

Subjects like mathematics, science, Indian history and English are currently not part of the Qaumi madarsa education system.

The proposed board will plan courses in a manner that students from these institutions will be eligible for direct admission into medical, engineering and other courses.

“The board will run the madarsa without diluting their original or main spirit. Students will learn about religion and also study modern subjects for their livelihood,” the source said.

He said the government would also set up a separate body comprising eminent Muslim academicians and experienced madarsa teachers to write and translate books.

The government will also take steps to enhance salary of the teachers of the madarsa.

“Quality teaching is missing in many of the madarsa because teachers are unhappy with their poor pay package and concentrating on other sources of income like tuition to ensure a decent livelihood. The chief minister recently announced Rs 5 lakh each for non-government madarsas,” the source said.

Sources, however, said the Congress government’s plan may not go down well with certain groups and organisations of the minority community.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, one of the leading Islamic organisations in the country recently accused the Gogoi government of trying to interfere in the affairs of madarsas by providing funds and other benefits, which must not be accepted.

The Jamiat said a madarsa is purely a religious institution and was meant to teach the younger generation about Islam.

Legal expert and politician Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury, however, said modernisation of madarsa education could play a pivotal role for overall improvement of the Muslim community.