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Panel discusses how to improve minority education in India
The National Monitoring Committee for Minorities Education (NMCME) had held a meeting on July 6 and the minutes were issued on August 20.
Need for more schools, registration of unregulated madrasas, and admissions on the basis of the Right to Education (RTE) Act are some of the issues that were discussed at a meeting in July aimed at helping students from the minority community, according to the minutes of the meeting accessed by HT.
The National Monitoring Committee for Minorities Education (NMCME), which is chaired by the human resource development (HRD) minister, had held a meeting on July 6 and the minutes were issued on August 20.
The panel comprised representatives from state governments and Parliament, academics, activists, administrators looking into minority issues and HRD ministry officials. Its primary function is to monitor minority education and the HRD ministry’s schemes for the minorities. It also makes recommendations on issues related to the recognition and affiliation of minority institutes.
“...the minority educational institutions do not admit students based on RTE Act. That should be looked into,” said Gujarat education minister Bhupendrasinh Manubha Chudasama.
Jamshid Khan, another member of the committee, said even as some states have madrasa boards, others such as Maharashtra do not have them. Khan suggested that there should be an all-India madrasa board “with a suitable system for accreditation to ensure academic standards”.
Talat Ahmad, the vice-chancellor of Kashmir University and a former vice-chancellor of Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia, said: “There are many students living around Jamia Millia Islamia who apply to Jamia Millia school but we aren’t able to cater to the rising demand. It is desirable that the government opens more and more basic schools for minorities so that the minority children can get good opportunity for studying.”
Professor Azfar Shamshi of TM Bhagalpur University in Bihar appreciated the work done in the field of minority education, but emphasised the need to recognise unregistered madrasas.
