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National University of Educational Planning and Administration
NUEPA, New Delhi-110016
Title: Muslim Minority Girls’ in Delhi: An analytical study of their Enrolment
in Elementary Education (Some reflections based on DISE data).
2
Submitted to:
Prof Arun C. Mehta
HoD - Deptt. of EMIS
NUEPA, New Delhi-16
Submitted by:
Amira Wali
Enrolment no.20101010
M.Phil Scholar- Batch 2010-12
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INTRODUCTION:
It is a universally accepted reality that education enlightens and empowers societies.
Education is an important marker of Human Development and is included in the widely used
Human Development Indices, such as those developed by the UNDP. These indices focus on
enrolment at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels1.
Minorities:
The Permanent Court of International Justice considered the concept of minority in an
advisory opinion of 31 July 19302. The Court stated;
The criterion to be applied to determine what is a community within
the meaning of the articles of the convention...is the existence of a
group of persons living in a given country or locality, having a race,
religion, language and traditions of their own, and united by the
identity of such race, religion, language and traditions in a sentiment
of solidarity, with a view to preserving their traditions, maintaining
their form of worship, securing the instruction and upbringing of their
children in accordance with the spirit and traditions of their race and
mutually assisting one another.
Indian Minorities:
In India, there are three kinds of minorities viz. Religious, linguistic and educationally
backward minorities. The Supreme Court of India defined minority for the purposes of
Article 30(1)3 of the Indian Constitution, as a community, linguistic or religious, which is
numerically less than 50% of the entire State population.
List of Minorities as per Central Government Notification in India - Five religious
communities viz. Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis have been declared as
minority communities by the Union Government notification dated 23.10.1993 issued by
Ministry of Welfare. As per the functions of NCM (National Commission for Minorities) laid
down in Section 9 (1) of the NCM Act, 1992, the Commission has been looking into the
educational problems of the five religious communities of the country.
1 Human Development in India, Oxford Publication, 2009
2 In the context of the emigration of the Greco-Bulgarian communities. The Court statement is based on the
Convention of 27 November 1919 between Bulgaria and Greece. 3 All minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall have the right to establish and administer
educational institutions of their choice
4
The Constitutional Commitment to Equality of Minorities:
The Indian Constitution intends to assure Muslims and other Minorities equality of status and
opportunities with other citizens to accelerate the process of educational and socio-economic
justice. The Constitution of India grants the right to Equality4 ; right to Freedom of Religion
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; Protection of the interest of Minorities6 and Protection of Interests of Minorities in regard to
Educational Rights7.
The State of Muslim Minorities:
According to the 2001 Census, the proportion of Muslim population to the total population
was found to be 13.4%. The Jains at 0.4%, others at 0.6%, Buddhists at 0.8%, Sikhs at 1.9%,
Christians at 2.3% while the Hindus enjoy a majority of 80.5%.
4 Article 14 ; Fundamental Rights (Part III) of the Indian Constitution
5 Article 25-28 ; Fundamental rights (Part III) of the Indian Constitution
6 Article 29 ; Fundamental Rights (Part III) of the Indian Constitution
7 Article 30 ; Fundamental Rights (Part III) of the Indian Constitution
5
Aim of the Study:
In this study, I endeavour to analyse the enrolment situation of Muslim girls over a period of
time, as far as their elementary schooling is concerned. My area of study would be confined
to the territorial limits of Delhi.
� Key Words: Muslim minority, Elementary Education ( classes I-VIII) , Analytical
study
� Universe: Nine districts of Delhi State
� Target Population: Muslim Girls
� Age group: 6-14 years
RATIONALE OF THE STUDY:
As far back as 60 years , the Constitution of India promised to provide universal education to
all children upto the age of 14 years. While considerable progress has been made in this
regard in the 1990s, much still remains to be done for girls’ education.
Recent public discourse has been overwhelmed with concerns about the educational
backwardness of specific communities such as dalits, Adivasis, OBCs and Muslims. Even
after 60 years of independence and a variety of policy initiatives, the differences in
educational attainment persist.
Source: IHDS 2004-05
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Rational for taking up Delhi for the Study:
An analysis of the 2001 census data reveals that Delhi has a substantial Muslim population
standing at 11.7%. The rationale for taking Delhi for the purpose of this study are enlisted as
under:
• The state is the Capital of the country and comprises of the National Capital Territory.
• Delhi is also the policy capital of the country. Educational Policies formulated in
Institutes like NCERT, NUEPA etc. are located in Delhi.
• Delhi is an important Educational hub with an extensive network of various levels of
education and training institutes.
• Delhi caters not only to its residents but also to an unusually large number of
outsiders from neighbouring states like Bihar, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh,
and migrants from within the country.
• Delhi has set up one of the largest school systems in the world- with over 93000
teachers and close to 3 million children enrolled in classes I-XII, what remains to be
ascertained is what proportion of this enrolment comprises of Muslim girls.
• Most importantly, compared to the Muslim population of the rest of the states in
India, the Muslim population in delhi lies at the average level at 11.7%, i.e it is neither
too high nor too low. If states like Jammu & Kashmir or Lakshadweep with high
Muslim Populations or other states like Mizoram or Sikkim with a meagre muslim
population would have been taken up, the information obtained for enrolment levels
would have been distorted owing to relatively higher and lower ratio of Muslims in
these states. For instance, the highest percentage of muslim enrolment is observed in
Lakshadweep (UT) standing at 99.73% which is because the percentage of Muslim
population to the total population in 2001 was as high as 95.47%. Again 12 districts
of Jammu & Kashmir have got above 90% Muslim enrolment in Primary and Upper
Primary classes; consequent of the fact that the total Muslim population in Jammu &
Kashmir stands at 67%8.
8
DISE flash statistics 2008-09
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On the other hand, 25 districts in the country comprising of 15 districts from Jammu
& Kashmir, 1 district each from Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Lakshadweep
and Kerela and 5 districts of Assam have more than 50% muslim enrolment at the
primary levels. Interestingly, these are the states that rank among the highest Muslim
populations in the whole country9.
Source: Census of India 2001
• Announcement of the Delhi Development Goals in conformity with UEE enhancing
girl education10 - Goal 2: Achieve Universal Elementary Education
Target 3: Ensure that by, 2015, children everywhere , boys and girls alike, will be able
to complete a full course of 8 years of elementary schooling.
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women.
10
Delhi Development Goals and Targets, Delhi Human Development report 2006- Partnerships for Progress
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Target 4: Eliminate gender disparity in elementary schooling
Rationale of Studying Elementary education in Muslim girls:
Education is an important economical empowerment tool for the girl child. It was not until
the Jomtien Conference (1990) that international community fully realized that Universal
Primary Education can be achieved until the issue of girls education will be stressed upon.
Education for All (EFA) targets were identified as part of the Dakar Framework for Action
at the World Education Forum in Dakar 2000.
EFA target 5 is “Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005,
and achieving gender equality in education by 2015…”. Despite the commitments at the
World Education Forum, some regions and countries have lagged behind and some goals
have received insufficient attention. In particular, most countries failed to eliminate gender
disparities in Primary and Secondary education by 2005. It is also clear that pervasive
imbalances in the development of many education systems create and reinforce disparities,
which must be redressed if children, youth and adults are to benefit equally from the
opportunities that education provides.
Goal 2: Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult
circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to free and compulsory
primary education of good quality11. It is estimated that 100 million children are out of school
in the world today. Sixty percent of them are girls.12
The Millennium Development Goals—an outcome of the Millennium Summit of2001—
also focused on girls’ education as being a pivotal factor in development, with UNICEF
declaring that “None of the MDGs will likely be met unless there is significant progress in
girls ’education” (2005, p.5), a statement that closely echoes the conviction of the then
Secretary-General of the UN, Kofi Annan who claimed in a 2004 address to the Women’s
Health Coalition that “there is no tool for development more effective than the education of
girls”. The root causes of this gender gap are multi-faceted and often inter-twined. Annan, K.
11
EFA Global Monitoring Report 2008, UNESCO, Oxford Publication 12
Retrieved from a report of Save the Children (2005). London
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(2004) ‘No development tool more effective than education of girls and empowerment of
women.’ 13
The Education Department with broaden objectives of Universalization of Elementary
Education, Extension of School facilities within every school, development of infrastructure
and providing incentive structure to improve enrolment and retention is implementing various
schemes through the following sectors: Elementary Education , Secondary Education ,
Teacher Education , Adult Education and Administration. Focus on elementary level is
primarily important because at this time in Indian history, school enrolment has increased
rapidly in the past decade, and new programs like SSA have made primary education a
priority. Social group differences in enrolment are striking. Dalit, Adivasi and Muslim
children are far less likely to enrol in school and are more likely to drop out than others.
Consequently, while 94% of children from the forward caste and 96% of the other religious
groups were enrolled at the time of survey, the figures were 83% for Dalit children, 77% for
the Adivasi children and 76% for Muslim children14. Out of the 10.49%of Muslim enrolment
in elementary education in India, 49.20% is the share of Muslim girls to Muslim enrolment.
2006 - Excerpts from the Sachar Committee Report - 200615:
The literate percentage population of Muslim minorities in comparison to the others is shown
in the table given below:
Age Group Hindus Muslims Other Minorities
General OBC SC/ST 6-14 years
90.2 80.8 74.7
74.6 88.5
Source: NSSO 61st round (2004-05)
The literacy rate among muslims in 2001 stood at 59.1% which was far below the National
Average of 65.1%. Primary education seems to be the major hurdle for school education.
13
The United Nations Secretary General’s Address to the Women’s Health Coalition retrieved from http://www.unis.unvienna.org
14 IHDS- India Human Development Survey ( Human Development In India – Challenges for a society in
transition) Oxford 15
A Report on the Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community of India
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Table: Enrolment Rates 1999-2000 and 2004-05
Source : NSSO 55th and 61
st round
As many as 25% of Muslim Children in the 6-14 years of age have neither attended
school or have dropped out. Drop out rates are highest among Muslims at the level of
Primary, Upper Primary and Higher Secondary as compared to other SRCs16
Table: Drop out and Never attended school children among 6-14 years of age
Source : NSSO 61st round
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Socio-Religious Category
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2007 - Study by Usha Nayar 17; Muslim girls and women lag behind their male
counterparts.. The muslims record the highest incidence of poverty with 31% of people
being poor. The average literacy rate was 50.1% for Muslim women and 53.7% for all
communities. Gender disparity in literacy rates is 9.67% in rural and 13.11% in urban areas.
Only 3.6% muslims are graduates as compared to the National Average of 6.7%. Mean Years
of Schooling (MYS) for 7-16 years of age in 2001 was 3.9 years. In that it was 3.26 years for
Muslims and 2.7 years for Muslim girls. Findings of the study revealed that Educational
backwardness of Muslims and confirmed the unequal status of women.
2008 - A report by the NCM ( National Commission on Minorities) titled ‘Socio-economic
Status of Notified Minority Communities (Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis) except
Muslims’, says that the minority communities—apart from the Muslims—have a literacy
rate higher than the average literacy rate of the country. As per the report, the Parsis have
the highest literacy rate among the notified minorities—97.9 per cent followed by Christians
80.3 per cent, Buddhists with 72.7 per cent and Sikhs with 69.4 per cent. This is against the
country’s average literacy rate of 64.8 per cent. The literacy rate among women in these
communities is also higher than the national average of 54.6 per cent. Christian women have
the highest literacy rate at 76.2% and Buddhist women have the lowest at 61.7 per cent.
2009 – the Right to Education Act, popularly called the RTE, a landmark act was passed by
both the Houses of the Parliament. The Act ensures:
• Every child between the ages of 6 to 14 years has the right to free and compulsory
education. This is stated as per the 86th Constitution Amendment Act added Article
21A. The right to education bill seeks to give effect to this amendment
• The government schools shall provide free education to all the children and the
schools will be managed by school management committees (SMC). Private schools
shall admit at least 25% of the children in their schools without any fee.
The National Commission for Elementary Education shall be constituted to monitor all
aspects of elementary education including quality.
2010 - A study on Educational Attainment of Muslim Women in India: Obstacles and
Interventions18, sampled on five schools and one college of Darbhanga City of Bihar to study
the enrolment, stated that action is needed in order to raise the issue of gross under
17
Usha Nayar et al: An analytical study of education of Muslim women girls in India 18
Paper by Sahiba Hassan, in a National Seminar organized by AMU
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representation of a significant religious minority from various academic fora and building up
of pressure groups at various levels of state machinery. Importantly, action is needed to
form a separate gender budgeting for women’s education particularly for women from
backward religious minority communities like the muslims.
METHODOLOGY :
The main source of Secondary data used is the DISE data (District Report Cards) from
2005-06 to 2009-10. Both published and unpublished data was used for this purpose. The
unpublished data was obtained from NUEPA- Deptt. of EMIS. Other sources of secondary
data used are listed as under:
� Delhi Development Report, 2006
� 7th AISES
� Books on muslim education were consulted in order to get an insight about the
situation of muslims in general and the educational status of muslim females in
particular19.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION :
Status of Elementary Education of Muslim girls in Delhi:
The Elementary stage in India has been sub-divided into the Primary (I-V) and Upper
Primary Level (V-VIII). The Primary education in Delhi follows a system of five years of
schooling and Upper Primary constituting grades V to VIII. Delhi state comprises of nine
districts or zones (five of them falling under the NCT of Delhi) and 27 Tehsils.
Class Boys Girls
I 48 51.7
II 48.7 51.2
III 49 51
IV 49.6 50
V 50 49.5
I-V 49 50.8
VI 53.6 46
VII 50.7 49
VIII 60 40
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Muslims in India by Aijazuddin Ahmad; Minority Education in India by Abdul Waheed; Unequal Citizens by
Hasan & Menon; Gender bias in Girl Child Education by S.K.Pant
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I-VIII 52 48 Source: 7th AISES (All India School Educational Survey)
Interpretation: The table suggests that the enrolment of boys and girls are more or less equal
at the Primary level but the enrolment of girls starts declining at the Upper Primary Level
especially from class VI. The Gender Parity Index (GPI) for Primary and Upper Primary are
given below:
Class GPI
I-V 1
VI-VIII 0.9
Interpretation: While the gender parity is fairly good at the primary levels, Enrolment in
Upper Primary suggests gender disparity between Muslim Boys and Girls.
Source: All India School Educational Survey (7th AISES)
Interpretation: Gradual decline of Muslim Girls Enrolment from VI class onwards
suggesting an increase in Drop-out rate at the Upper Primary levels.
District-wise Enrolment of Muslim Girls in Delhi at the Elementary Level:
The enrolment of Muslim Girls to total Muslim enrolment in the elementary level has been
studied in the nine districts of Delhi. The tables and Graphs are given for the year 2006-07
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2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10. Prior to that no specific information is available as far as
Muslim girls enrolment to total Muslim enrolment is concerned.
Zones Percentage of Muslim Girls
to Muslim Enrolment
Percentage of Muslim Girls
to Muslim enrolment
Primary Upper Primary
Central Delhi 45.7 46.9
East Delhi 47.7 56.4
New Delhi 43.6 42.9
North Delhi 53.2 57.7
North-East Delhi 58.5 49.5
North-West Delhi 49.6 50
South Delhi 46.7 55.9
South West Delhi 40.7 47.5
West Delhi 49.9 42.8 Source: District Report Cards DISE data,2006-07
Source: District Report Cards, DISE data 2006-07
Interpretation: Though there is an encouraging increase in enrolment at the Upper primary
levels in districts like Central, east, North, South and South-West Delhi, a significant level of
drop-out is observed in North-East and West Delhi, at the upper primary level.
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District Enrolment of Muslim Girls in the year 2007-08 in Delhi:
Zones Percentage of Muslim Girls to
total Muslim Enrolment
Percentage of Muslim
Girls to total Muslim
Enrolment
Primary Upper Primary
Central Delhi 43.7 58.4
East Delhi 45.9 53.1
New Delhi 34.4 58.1
North Delhi 47.7 57.4
North East Delhi 63.5 51.2
North West Delhi 47.1 50.6
South Delhi 44.4 50.2
South West Delhi
West Delhi
43.1
53
43.4
52.5 Source: DISE DRCs 2007-08
Source: DISE DRCs 2007-08
Interpretation: Again significant level of drop-out observed at the Upper primary level in
North-East and West Delhi, reiterating the trend observed in 2006-07.
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Drop-out in specific areas of Delhi. Drop-out at upper primary a concern because according
to the DISE Flash statistics 2008-09, out of the total 53.35 million enrolment in Upper
Primary classes in the country in 2008-09, Muslim enrolment is 4.87 million and the
percentage of Muslim girls’ to total Muslim enrolment in Upper Primary i.e 50.03%, which is
above the National Average of 47.58% for girls’ enrolment in upper primary classes.
District Wise Enrolment of Muslim Girls in 2008-09:
Zone Muslim Girls to Muslim
Enrolment in Primary
Muslim Girls to Muslim
Enrolment in Upper Primary
Central Delhi 48.94 52.03
East Delhi 51.14 48.87
New Delhi 74.84 100
North Delhi 50.7 53.13
North East Delhi 50.66 50.71
North West Delhi 47.59 46.27
South Delhi 48.87 48.74
South West Delhi 47.66 43.95
West Delhi 48.55 48.26 Source: DISE DRCs (Unpublished data)
Source: DISE DRCs (unpublished)
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Interpretation: Whereas the enrolment in Muslim girls has increased in North East and West
Delhi, a considerable drop-out in South West Delhi, followed by North West Delhi is
observed in the Upper Primary level.
District Wise Enrolment of Muslim Girls in 2009-10:
Zone Enrolment of Muslim
Girls to Enrolment in
Primary
Enrolment of Muslim Girls to
Muslim Enrolment in Upper
Primary
Central Delhi 50.59 54.45
East Delhi 48.04 48.89
New Delhi 48.67 48.39
North Delhi 54.99 49.49
North East Delhi 50.3 50.59
North West Delhi 48.04 47.24
South Delhi 48.84 49.78
South West Delhi 47.87 43.39
West Delhi 48.54 47.48 Source: DISE DRCs (unpublished data)
Source: DISE DRCs (unpublished data)
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Interpretation: Though the drop-out at Upper primary level remains the same in South
West Delhi, drop-out, though not much is observed in West and North West Delhi also.
Discussion: On analysis of the above given data, we observe that three districts of Delhi
namely South West Delhi, North East Delhi and West Delhi show fluctuating results in terms
of the Muslim Girl Enrolment in Upper Primary level over the years. The table shown below
suggests it more clearly.
Zones 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10
South West Delhi 47.5 43.4 43.95 43.39
North East Delhi 49.5 51.2 50.71 50.59
West Delhi 42.8 52.5 48.26 47.48
Source: DISE DRCs (published and unpublished data)
Over the years, there has been a substantial decrease in the enrolment of Muslim Girls in the
given three zones, suggesting Drop-out at the Upper Primary level. The condition of South
West and West Delhi is least favourable.
CONCLUSION OF THE STUDY:
• The burden of deprivation falls mostly on members of low socio-economic status.
• There are community- specific problems; financial constraints, low standards of
living, parental objection and low returns on education make education less attractive
to Muslim girls.
• In order to improve the educational status of the Muslim minorities, efforts have to be
made to improve their socio-economic status as well.
• Muslim girls are the last to be sent to schools and in adversity, the first to be pulled
out of schools. This condition essays their vulnerability and no say in decision
making.
• South West Delhi, North East Delhi and West Delhi lag behind the other Delhi
districts in terms of high drop-out rates of Muslim Girls in the Upper Primary levels.
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RECOMMENDATIONS:
� The govt. should increase allocation to education in general and of minorities
especially minority girls, in particular.
� SSA should have a strong pro-girl child programme, with added emphasis on
muslim girls.
� Open schools in states should waive off examination fee for girls. If at all, a girl
leaves school and wishes to continue through open schooling, the examination fee
stops her from doing so and this makes her waste the important years of her life.
DATA LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY:
� Ratio of Muslim girls to total muslim enrolment data not available prior to 2006-07
in DISE data.
� GPI as taken for Muslim boys and girls not available in 6th AISES. The data was
taken from 7th AISES
SCOPE FOR FURTHER RESEARCH:
A Research Study can be undertaken on the basis of proper field work in Delhi to identify the
reasons as to which the specified districts in Delhi, mentioned in this write-up are lagging
behind in improving the enrolment rates of Muslim girls in Upper Primary education. The
identified reasons can be forwarded to the Planning Deptt. , Govt. of Delhi as well as the
policy making agencies like NUEPA, so that recommendations are given and implemented
in order to realize the achievement of Universalisation of Elementary education.
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References:
Management of Education for Minority Nationalities/Tribes in India by K.K.Khullar, Ministry of
HRD, Deptt. of education, Govt. of India, New Delhi
Muslim Female Education in Metropolitan City of Calcutta- A perspective Study of an Urban
Minority (1971-81) by Santimay Ray; Ministry of Human Resource Development, Deptt. Of
Education, New Delhi
The Human Right to Education by Douglas Hodgson; Ashgate Dartmouth Publishing Company Ltd.,
1998
Education of Muslim Girls: A Study of the Area Intensive Programme by Anita Nuna; Deptt. of
Womens’ Studies, NCERT, New Delhi-16
Unequal Citizens- A study of Muslim Women in India by Zoya Hasan and Ritu Menon; Oxford
University Press, 2004
Minority Education in India: Issues of Access, Equity and Inclusion by Abdul Waheed; Serials
Publications, 2010
Muslims in India- Volume III by Aijazuddin Ahmad; under Hamdard Education Society; Inter-India
Publications , 1995
Elementary Education in India-Where do we stand? by Arun C.Mehta; District Report Cards 2006-07,
2007-08, NUEPA, New Delhi-16
DISE Analytical Report 2007-08 by Arun C.Mehta, NUEPA, New Delhi-16
Delhi Development Report, Oxford Publication,2006
EPA Global Monitoring Report , UNESCO, Oxford Publication,2008
http://www.minorityaffairs.gov.in/newsite/sachar/sachar.asp
http://www.censusindia.gov.in