EDUCATIONAL STATUS OF MUSLIM WOMEN IN INDIA MS. YACHANA SHARMA Lecturer, Al-Barkaat Institute of Education, Aligarh ABSTRACT Education is the basic and fundamental requirement of citizens of a country in the universal declaration of human rights. Mahatma Gandhi once said, To educate one man, you educate one person, but to educate a woman, you educate a whole civilization. It means education not only empower the women but empower the whole society. The human civilization has changed from agricultural society to cybernetic age but the position of woman has not so much changed because of educational deprivation. In the present article an attempt has been made to analyze the educational status of women Muslim in particular in the country. So that proper steps can be taken by the Government to improve their condition or the condition of whole society. INTRODUCTION Women must have equal roles to play for the progress of the society but gender inequality is still a prominent phenomenon. Few issues have attracted greater interest among academicians and activists in India than those concerning women and Islam, but much of this interest is caught up in misconceptions that usually leave Muslim women invisible. It is a well known fact that the change is the law of nature so is the nature of human being. Similarly, on the subject of development and change the Muslim women cannot be ignored. It is generally believed that Indian Muslim has failed to cope up with the change that is taking place in Indian society at large. In India, the sex ratio is 940(1000) and 912(1000) in U.P. Education has been regarded as a significant instrument for changing women s position in society. It not only develops the personality and capabilities of individuals, but also qualifies them to fulfill certain economic, political and cultural functions. To analyze the educational status of Muslim women in the country we first examine their literacy rate then their GER in higher education. Yachana Page 88
(1) To examine the minority wise literacy rate of Muslim women at the National and State level (U.P.). It reveals that the female literacy rate at the National level is 65.5 and 59.26 in U.P. On the point of female literacy rate U.P. ranks 31 st in all over India. The minorities (Muslims, Christen, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jain, and Parsis) analysis reveals that in Muslim women have lowest literacy rate in India that is 50.1. In terms of Muslim population, U.P. is one of the largest state (18.55), has the lower Muslim female literacy rate that is 37.28(2001). (2) To examine Muslim women GER in Higher Education at National and State level U.P. in particular. Different Committees and Commissions have accepted that education is the most important ingredient in the women empowerment process. In terms of GER in higher education. U.P. ranks second highest among all states of India on the total number of universities but in terms of overall GER it ranks 11 th among all over states in India (16.3). The female related to Muslim community has 41.21 GER in India and 41.84 in U.P. In the present study, it is found those females are educationally backward in general as well as Muslims woman in particular. Empowering Muslim women is necessity because women can play a very important rate in the development of the society. To uplift a community it is required to raise the status of Muslim woman. Now a day education is the primary tool of women empowerment. So, our major concern will be towards on the policy perspectives related to women and their empowerment at the societal level. Table 1: Gross enrolment ratio by religious (2004-2005) Religious Groups Higher Education Graduation Male Female Total Male Female Hindu 15.19 10.86 13.13 13.07 9.32 Muslim 9.09 6.16 7.70 7.77 5.81 Christian 19.72 19.98 19.85 17.21 16.02 Sikh 10.77 14.99 12.01 9.01 12.4 Total 11.29 6.84 16.60 10.62 Yachana Page 89
Total 14.42 10.57 12.59 12.42 9.11 10.84 Source: UGC (2009) As shown in the table no1, GER in higher education and graduate programmes widely differs across religious communities. Muslims have the lowest GER of 7.70 in higher education as against Christians who enjoy highest enrolment ratio of 19.85. Muslims are far behind the national GER of 12.59 in higher education. They are the only community who lag behind the national GER. Their woman folk is further backward in higher education as their GER is the lowest in the country which is almost one half one half of the National female GER. Higher education equips youth contribute to the economic development of society and lead it in intellectual, political and social spheres. Development of higher education depends on out turn of the student from secondary schools provision of appropriate educational ovenues and facilities for them and availability of suitable conditions of their accesses for these facilities. We have seen Muslims limited attainment of education for higher stage which has its ripple effect on their higher education. While some progress has been made in their enrolment in higher education, still in this sector of education. As per the NSS, 55th and the 61 st rounds, attainment of Muslim woman in higher education i.e. graduation and above improved from 1.3% to 1.8% in rural areas and from 4.7% to 7.1% in urban areas during 1999-2000 and 2004-2005.Attainment of Muslim females improved in higher education. Attainment in urban areas from 3.4% to 5.3% but only marginally from 0.4%to 0.8% in rural areas. Sachar Committee observed that while some progress has been made overtime, differences remain and the current generation of Muslim females are lagging behind in the higher education. Like attainment at a particular level of education as an indicator, gross enrolment rations (GER) also indicate extent of person s engagement with higher education. The attainment level is generally lower than enrolment ratio as there is some amount of wastage in the course of completion of education by the enrolled persons. Yachana Page 90
RECOMMENDATIONS In order to overcome the constraints, faced by Muslim women to achieve empowerment, a multidimensional approach and efforts at both governmental and NGO level are necessary. I personally think that Muslim Woman understand her own responsibility for education, no government policy or peoples cannot help her in the other word she does not depends on anybody for education. In general, we recommend that: 1. Government should ensure that the fundamental rights guaranteed to every Indian citizen are enjoyed by Muslims in true letter and spirit. 2. 15 Point Programme meant for upliftment of minorities, initiated by the Central Government, should be implemented rigorously. 3. The recommendations of the Sachar Committee Report for socio-economic upliftment of Muslims should be implemented rigorously 4. National Human Rights Commission, Minority Commission, and National Commission of Women should play effective role in dealing with the matters of violation of rights of minorities. In particular, we recommend the following for the empowerment of Muslim women: 1. NGOs with active participation of Muslim women should guide about availability of various schemes initiated by the government and various agencies for providing financial assistance to women, like loans for higher education, educated unemployed and self employment etc. 2. Effective steps at all levels should be taken to get rid of the curse of illiteracy which is the root cause of socio-economic backwardness among Muslim women at large. 3. The educated, employed and empowered Muslim women should come forward and establish NGOs in order to guide and create awareness among the deprived Muslim women about the opportunities available. They should take initiative in forming self help groups by Muslim women and encourage self employment and savings. Employment outside home may be encouraged by providing the facilities of crèches wherever possible. Such NGOs should focus on the awareness of legal rights of Muslim women including property rights. Yachana Page 91
4. From religious point of view, religious scholars should ensure to create proper awareness among Muslims at large both men and women about the social and economic rights given to women in Islam. Once these issues are addressed effectively, there is no doubt that the Muslim community at large will march ahead in the direction of progress and development and in turn Muslim women will realize the dream of equality of status and empowerment. CONCLUSION If we really want to improve the women s position in our society improving Muslim woman, we have to take some serious steps in future and also improve the defaults of previous policies in primary to higher education. We have to establish some universities which only focus on women education like Bhagat Phool Singh Mahila Vishvavidhaylay, Mother Teresa Woman University Jiyoti Vidyapeeth University, Banasthali Vidyapeeth University, and Jaipur in Rajasthan. U.P. is in need of Women University which provide the entire stream s education like medicine, engineering etc. Government should focus on precious scheme s defaults and will make special Committees and Commissions on women from time to time. The Constitution of India not only grants equality to women but empowers the government to take special steps for the betterment of Muslim women. On the final note, we can say that female themselves to take use of these opportunities and also try to improve their situation. REFERENCES (1) Mahmood, T. (2001), Minorities Commission: Minor Role in Major Affairs, New Delhi: Pharos Media & Publishing (P) Ltd. (2) Ahmad, H. (2012), Empowerment of Muslims through Quality education, in Empowerment of Indian Muslims: Perspectives, Planning and Road Ahead, eds. M. A. Beg and A. R. Kidwai, New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company Pvt. Ltd. Yachana Page 92
(3) Alam, A. (2012), Empowerment of Indian Muslims: Education is the key! in in Empowerment of Indian Muslims: Perspectives, Planning and Road Ahead, eds. M. A. Beg and A. R. Kidwai, New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company Pvt. Ltd. (4) Azim, S. (1997), Muslim Women: Emerging Identity, Jaipur: Rawat Publications. (5) Besant, R. and A. Shariff (2010), The State of Muslims in India in Oxford Handbook of Muslims: Empirical and Policy Perspectives, eds. R. Besant and A. Shariff, New Delhi: Oxford University Press. (6) GOI (2006), Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community of India A Report, Prime Minister s High Level Committee, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India (Chairperson- Justice (7) Hussain, S. (2010), Educational Attainment of Muslim Women in India: Obstacles and interventions, in Minority Education in India: Issuers of Access, Equity and Inclusion, ed. A. Waheed, New Delhi: Serials Publications. (8) Kazi, S. (1991), Muslim Women in India - A Report (London, UK: Minority Rights Group International). (9) Mondal, S. R. (1997), Educational Status of Muslims: Problems, Prospects and Priorities, New Delhi: Inter-India Publications. (10) Siddiqui, M. K. A. (2011), Muslims in India: Issues and Challenges (A collection of articles), Kolkata: Abadi Publication. (11) Talib, P. (2012), Educational Initiatives to Transform Muslim Community, in Empowerment of Indian Muslims: Perspectives, Planning and Road Ahead, eds. M. A. Beg and A. R. Kidwai, New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company Pvt. Ltd. (12) http://www.minorityaffairs.gov.in/sachar (13) https://casi.sas.upenn.edu/iit/basant (14) http://www.slideshare.net/mdafsarali/paper-for-national-seminar- (15) http://jmi.ac.in/upload/research/ab_2013_cdms Yachana Page 93