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Education a bar too high for Muslims?

EDUCATION IN INDIA

A dropout rate of 25% and only 17% of matriculates. Is it then any surprise that only 6% Muslims are graduates?

As most don't make it past the first level of qualification, their low representation at IIMs — of the 4,743 students, a mere 63 are Muslims — is self-explanatory. To cap it all, only one out of 25 undergraduate students is a Muslim in a premier college.

Employment opportunities — in short, the India shining dream — is not theirs for the asking. And the Sachar report clearly points to the lack of sufficient educational opportunities available to Muslims which has left them lagging behind in all spheres of life.

The data presented in the report shows that primary education proves to be the biggest obstacle before Muslims — the community is unable to match even the SCs/STs in certain cases. Key indicators, the report says,

are the mean school years (MSYs) that correspond with children between ages of 7-16 years who have completed matriculation.

The Census 2001 found that, on an average, a child in India goes to school for four years. For Muslims, this number is even lower, at three years and four months. The MSY for Muslim children is only 83% of the overall average. The MSY status is not consistent.

In states like Kerala, Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, Muslim children stay in schools much more than in states like West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. Another indicator is the enrolment rate which according to some studies has been encouraging.

The report submits that there has been an increase in enrolment rate across all socio-religious categories (SRCs) with the highest increase among SC/STs (95%) followed by Muslims (65%).
While this is encouraging, dropout rates are a dampener.

[Courtesy: Dec 1, 2006 TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]