New Delhi, December 3
Ruling out reservation based on religion, Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh today said that the UPA government was open to all suggestions, including setting up a central madarasa board to modernise education in seminaries.
At a meeting convened here by the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI), the minister dismissed as untrue the claims that madarasas breed terrorists.
"We will listen to whatever your suggestions are and try to do our best to implement these," Mr Singh told the gathering comprising Muslim clerics and prominent minority leaders.
However, he ruled out reservation for Muslims based on religion. "The Constitution does not allow that," Mr Singh said.
With the Sachar Committee's report painting a sorry picture of the educational status of Muslims, Mr Singh said there was a “misunderstanding” that madarsas bred terrorists.
Acknowledging the poor state of education among Muslims and the need to modernise seminaries by introducing modern technology, Mr Singh said: “Statistics have shown hardly four per cent of Muslim children go to these madarsas and it is the responsibility of the government to correct those figures.”
"This is the opportunity when we can place your suggestions before the Prime Minister and the Planning Commission before the commencement of the 11th Five-Year-Plan," he said.
Based on suggestions by various stakeholders, a report would soon be submitted to the government, said NCMEI Chairman M S A Siddiqui.
Muslim leaders offered suggestions on the framework of an autonomous central madarasa board that would be free from state control, generate foreign funds for corpus development and be exempt from income tax.
Affiliation to the board should be voluntary and it should be set up under a parliamentary Act and have no control over madarsas in states, Mr Siddiqui said.
Minister of State for HRD M A A Fatmi said: "The Sachar Committee's report is a mirror for politicians to see where Muslim education stands today." The government would have to strengthen secondary and primary education and ensure greater Muslim representation in institutes of higher learning like the IITs and IIMs.
He suggested imparting technical training to people in their mothertongue to create more job opportunities.
However, some groups expressed reservations about the setting up of a Central Madarasa Board.
The Sachar Committee has favoured working out mechanisms for linking madarsas to a higher secondary school board for integrating the traditional way of teaching with mainstream education.
