West Bengal madrasas see conspiracy in Mamata’s affiliation offer

Submitted by admin4 on 16 October 2011 - 4:00pm

By Zaidul Haque, TwoCircles.net

Kolkata: In a setback to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s move to please Muslims, a representative body of private religious madrasas in the state has rejected Mamata’s offer of affiliation to 10,000 madrasas. West Bengal Rabeta Madaris-e-Islamia Arabia rejected the offer saying there is a conspiracy to bring religious madrasas in political fold.

“Muslim should be aware of the government recognition offer for Islamic madrasas. Most of the Islamic madrasas in West Bengal are following the syllabus of Darul Uloom Deoband and Mazahir Uloom Saharanpur. Any madrasa run by Rabeta will never take Government recognition announced by the Chief Minister of West Bengal,” said Mufti Abul Qasim Nomani, Chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband.

(L-R) Chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband Mufti Abul Qasim Nomani, Maulana Siddiqullah Chowdhury, Principal Mazahir Uloom Saharanpur Maulana Sahid, Prof of Jamia Sahi Muradabad Mufti Salman.

Addressing a press conference here on 13th October, Maulana Nomani said “If Government wants to do something leave targeting Madrasa. Madrasa should have right to go their own way, destination Islamic Education.”

“Religious Madrasa should not take any Government Assistance. In Sachar Report we have seen only 4% Madrasa students. The rest are going to school or modern education centres. Government should take care of schools not Muslim-run Islamic Madarsa. Madrasas are teaching Islamic lesson. We have right to teach Islamic Education and build Islamic Educational Institution to our choice, which stated in Indian Constituency. We will abide Indian Constituency not State run Government Rule,’ Maulana Nomani roared.

He and other leaders of West Bengal Rabeta Madaris-e-Islamia Arabia questioned the affiliation offer of the CM by raising the issue of the number of madrasas in the state. They said the largest madrasa body Rabeta is running only 700 madrasas. So how will the govt get 10,000 madrasas in West Bengal?

Maulana Siddiqullah Chowdhury said the declaration of recognition to 10000 Madrasas by Mamata Banerjee led West Bengal Government is totally fake. Because there are not 10000 madrasas in West Bengal right now. It is a conspiracy against Islamic education, he said.

In reply to a question about Mamata’s claims that 90% of Muslim development issues has been covered successfully, Chowdhury said, the people of West Bengal knows well, they are doing nothing. This is a totally fake propaganda.

Principal of Mazahir Uloom Saharanpur said: If Madrasas are willing government assistance then Islamic Lesson might be dropped. So, Muslims should keep distance from Government Affiliation.

These eminent clerics and heads of renowned madarasas in the country were speaking at a press conference called at the end of two-day conference (12-13 Oct) of madrasas called by West Bengal Rabeta Madaris-e-Islamia Arabia at Jamia Islamia Madani near Dumdum Airport in Kolkata.

The conference was attended by around 700 Madrasas from 19 districts of the state. Eminent figures who featured the conference were Mufti Abul Qasim Nomani (Chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband and president of All India Rabeta Madaris-e-Islamia Arabia) Maulana Shahid (Principal of Mazahir Uloom Saharanpur), Mufti Salman (Professor of Jamia Shahi Muradabad) and Maulana Yusuf (Gujarat Darul Uloom). The conference was presided over by Maulana Siddiqullah Chowdhury.

From deferent districts of West Bengal lots of Islamic clerics and teachers attended the conference.

Some important points discussed at the conference:

1. To make good relation among Madrasas and should take care to build up coordination.

2. Rabeta Members will have an eye on Anti-Madrasa campaign

3. To increase quality of learning system-- Madrasa concern has to be taken special care.

4. To save Islamic Culture we have to spread benefit of Islamic education in the society.

5. Darul Uloom Deoband and Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind advised to keep safe distance from Government Financial help to run the madrasa. Madrasa should follow as usual process to collect donation form Muslim Community, society.

6. Govt of West Bengal declared to give the government affiliation to the 10000 Madrasa in West Bengal. This is the conspiracy to manage the Madrasa in political outfit. So, Madrasa should not take any government recognition. 

Bengal madrasah with more Hindu students draws eyes, President’s award for teacher

By Shiv Sahay Singh

Indian Express, Posted online: Thu Aug 26 2010, 01:56 hrs

Kolkata:  A teacher in West Bengal who has enrolled more Hindu students than Muslims in his madrasa is to receive the national award from President Pratibha Patil this Teachers’ Day.

Anwar Hossain, the headmaster of Orgram Chatuspalli High Madrasah in Burdwan district, will be among the 12 teachers from the state who will receive the award at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

Back in 1977, when Hossain joined the madrasa, it had just 34 students. Slowly the number increased and the institute drew more Hindu students. Today, it has about 64 per cent Hindu students.

 

“The award, I hope, will do away with the false notion about madrasas in our country,” Hossain told The Indian Express. “Madrasas are centres of learning where all sorts of education — computer education and English education  is being provided along with religious education.”

Hossain (56), says the madrasa drew more students from other communities because the institution provided help to students who had no access to education and did not have any means to support their education.

“We went from village to village and spoke to parents who could not afford a single rupee to educate their children. We did not charge any fees and started giving free books.”

Even today, all books till class X are given free of cost. And the teachers of this madrasa move across villages to identify the children who are out of school or who have dropped out due to financial constraints, said Hossain, who plans to donate his prize money to the madrasa.

“When students get support for their education, they don’t mind studying two extra subjects Arabic and Islam Parichay along with other regular subjects,” he added.

When The Indian Express first reported about the madrasa on January 19, 2009, it had 883 students of whom 555 were Hindus. Now the madrasa has been upgraded to higher secondary level and has 1,078 students studying in science and humanities streams. Even now, the number of non-Muslim students has remained 64 per cent.

“The headmaster (of the madrasa) has a big role in the making of the institution,” said Dibyen Mukherjee, the Director of School Education, West Bengal.

 

Abdus Sattar, Minister for Minority Development and Welfare and Madrasah Education, said the selection of Hossain for the President’s award points to the efforts made by the state government to modernise madrasas. “We have been able to provide a system where all communities can get education together,” he said.

India state changes madrasa rules

By Subir Bhaumik BBC News, Calcutta

Madrasas or traditional Islamic religious schools in the Indian state of West Bengal are to switch to English as the medium of instruction.

The programme will be introduced in phases, state Minority Affairs Minister Abdus Sattar announced. "We believe in modernising our traditional form of education so that our boys and girls can compete with the best," he told the BBC. He said that 10 madrasas in the state will make the switch this term . The remaining 566 madrasas will follow within a few years.

Curriculum modernisation

The overwhelming majority of madrasas in West Bengal are either government-run or government-approved - both are subject to rules promulgated by the state's Madrasa Education Board (MEB).

Only a handful are completely independent and do not fall under the board's remit. Seventy madrasas in West Bengal opened this year - 34 exclusively for women. Mr Sattar, himself once a madrasa teacher, said the modernisation of the curriculum in religious schools has been taking place for a while and modern science and mathematics have already been introduced. He said that both the US and Pakistan have sent teams to study the West Bengal madrasa system to study the impact of earlier changes.

"But without English as the medium of instruction, our students cannot get the best education. So we recommended the use of English as the medium of instruction in all government madrasas and those approved by government," said Sohrab Hossain, chairman of the MEB in West Bengal.
When the Marxists first came to power in the state, they did away with English at the primary level of education. But two decades later, they reversed their decision and reintroduced English at the primary level.

Their move came after huge criticisms that students from West Bengal were suffering in all-India competition, both in jobs and higher education, due to lack of proficiency in English. Muslims compromise 26% of West Bengal's 80 million people - they are mostly poor farmers or small traders who can only afford to send their children to madrasas to get an education. "So unless we modernise the madrasa system, we will not be able to provide quality education to most Muslim aspirants," Mr Hossain said. "Our madrasas don't produce the Taliban, they will produce engineers and doctors."

Story from BBC

NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/8311357.stm

Published: 2009/10/16 16:00:01 GMT