Literacy Among Muslims in India

Pursuant to the receipt of Sachar committee Report, it was decided to carry out a mass mobilization campaign in all districts, having a substantial population of Muslims, to generate awareness about the need for literacy and elementary education and to promote vocational education and skill development. A special literacy drive was to be taken up in these districts to improve the overall literacy rate and especially the literacy rate of Muslim women.

 Saakshar Bharat

Saakshar Bharat, a centrally sponsored scheme for adult education and skill development, is being implemented since October, 2006 in the rural areas of 410 districts in 26 States and 1 UT that had adult female literacy of 50% or lower as per Census 2001, and all left wing extremism affected districts irrespective of their literacy rates.

Main goal of the programme

1.      The main goal of the programme is to increase the country’s literacy rate to 80% and reduce the gender gap of 10 percentage points.

2.     The programme is primarily focused on women, SCs, STs, Muslim minorities and other disadvantaged groups in the rural areas in low literacy States / UTs.

3. The principal target of the Saakshar Bharat programme is to impart functional literacy to 70 million adults in the age-group of 15 years and beyond.

4.     The category-wise target under the programme is to cover 14 million SCs, 8 million STs, 12 million Muslims and 36 million others including overall 60 million women.

5.      About 52.93 lakh learners of Muslim minorities have appeared in biannual basic literacy assessment test conducted till August, 2015 under the programme, out of which about 36.84 lakh learners of Muslim minorities have successfully passed the test.

Ministry of Human Resource Development has informed that 30.08% of the total enrolment in minority districts was of Muslim children in 2012-13 which increased to 31.22% in 2013-14. At the national level, enrolment of Muslims in elementary schools was 13.52% in 2012-13 and 13.73% in 2013-14 as against the Muslim population share of 13.43% in 2001 (2001 Census). The enrolment of Muslim girls is even better as they accounted for 50.57% of the total enrolment in MCDs in 2013-14 which is higher than their share in the population.

 These facts indicated that the access to school for minorities has improved significantly. Further, as per Census 2011, the literacy rate among Muslims is 68.5% (Muslim Males- 74.7% and Muslim Females- 62%), which is much higher as compared to the literacy rate of 59.1% among Muslims as per Census 2001.

The percentage of recruitment of minorities in Central Government / Public Sector Undertakings was 8.56% in 2014-15 in comparison to 7.89% during 2013-14. Besides, as per Census 2011, the Work Participation Rate (WPR) for the Muslims was 32.6 % (reason for not working by an individual is not collected in the Census) as compared to 31.3 % as per Census 2001.

The Government is already implementing a number of schemes / initiatives for educational empowerment of minorities, including Muslims, so as to ensure their adequate representation in technical and higher educational institutions as well as the Government jobs for the minorities. A list of schemes/initiatives implemented by the Ministry of Minority Affairs and other Central Ministries for educational empowerment of minorities, including Muslims, is-

DETAILS OF SCHEMES / INITIATIVES MEANT FOR EDUCATIONAL ENHANCEMENT/EMPOWERMENT OF MINORITIES ARE AS UNDER:

i.  Pre-Matric Scholarship

ii.  Post-Matric Scholarship

iii.  Merit-cum-Means  Scholarship

iv.  Maulana Azad National Fellowship

v. Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme for providing services through Anganwadi Centres

vi. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and opening of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas

vii. ‘Padho Pardesh'- Interest subsidy on educational loans for overseas studies

viii. ‘Nai Udaan'- Support for students clearing Prelims conducted by UPSC, SSC, State Public Service Commissions, etc.

ix.  Scheme for Providing Quality Education in Madarsas (SPQEM)

x.   Scheme for Infrastructure Development of Minority Institutions (IDMI)

xi.   Greater Resources for Teaching Urdu

xii.   Free Coaching and Allied Scheme

xiii.   Schemes of Maulana Azad Education Foundation (MAEF) for promotion of education.

xiv.  Mid Day Meal Scheme

xv.   Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA)

xvi.   Sakshar Bharat/ Maulana Azad Taleem-e-Balighan

xvii.  Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS)

xviii.  Block Institutes of Teachers Education

xix.   Women’s Hostel.

xx.  Educational loans given by the National Minority Development & Finance Commission (NMDFC).

xxi.  Educational loans under Priority Sector Lending.

xxii. Issue of guidelines for giving special consideration for recruitment of minorities.

xxiii.  Educational infrastructures created under Multi-sectoral Development Programme (MsDP) in the minority concentration blocks/towns.

xxiv.  Nai Manzil- A Scheme to Provide Education and Skill Training to the Youth from Minority Communities (a new scheme).

The salient features of the Sachar Committee, which submitted its Report on 17.11.2006, inter-alia, with respect to educational status and Employment and Economic opportunities of the Muslims in the country are at enlisted

The salient features of the Sachar Committee Report with respect to educational status and Employment and Economic opportunities of the Muslims in the country are as under:

Educational status of the Muslims

i. The literacy rate among Muslims was 59.1%, which was below the national average of 64.8%.

ii. The mean years of schooling (MYS) is lower compared to the average MYS for all children.

iii.  25% of Muslim children in the age of 6 — 14 years age group have either never attended school or have dropped out.

iv. The majority of Muslim girls and boys fail in their matriculation examination or drop out before that.

v.  Less than 4% of Muslims are graduates or diploma holders compared to about 7% of the population aged 20 years and above.

vi. There is a strong desire and enthusiasm for education among Muslim women and girls across the board.

vii. Schools beyond primary level are few in Muslim localities. Exclusive schools for girls are fewer.

viii. Lack of hostel facilities is a limiting factor, especially for girls.

ix.    Muslim parents are not averse to modern or mainstream education and to sending their children to affordable Government schools. They do not necessarily prefer to send children to Madarsas. However, the access to Government schools for Muslim children is limited.

Employment and Economic opportunities of the Muslims

i.   Self-employment is the main source of income of Muslims. They are engaged more in self-employed manufacturing and trade activities compared to others.

ii.   The share of Muslim workers engaged in street vending is the highest. More than 12 per cent of Muslim male workers are engaged in street vending as compared to the national average of less than 8 per cent.

iii.  The percentage of women Muslim workers undertaking work within their own homes is much larger at 70 per cent compared to all workers at 51 per cent.

iv.  The share of Muslims in the total workers engaged in the tobacco and textiles/garment related industries are quite significant.

v.   The share of Muslim workers in production related activities and transport equipment operation is much higher at 34%, as against 21% of all workers.

vi.   More than 16 per cent of Muslims were engaged as sales workers, while the national average was only about 10 per cent.

vii.    While the participation of Muslim workers is relatively higher in production and sales related occupations, their participation was relatively lower in professional, technical, clerical and to some extent managerial work.

viii.  Muslims, by and large, are engaged in the unorganized sector of the economy and have to bear the brunt of liberalization.

ix.  The participation of Muslims in regular salaried jobs is much less than workers of other socio-religious categories.

x.   Muslims are relatively more vulnerable in terms of conditions of work as their concentration in informal sector employment is higher and their job conditions, even among regular workers, are less for Muslims than those of other socio-religious communities.

xi.  Percentage of households availing banking facilities is much lower in villages where the share of Muslim population is high.

source: pib