Von der Madrasa ans College?
Die indische Regierung möchte den Absolventen islamischer religiöser Lehranstalten (madrasas) den Zugang zu Universitäten gewähren. Billige Stimmenfängerei, von der die jungen Muslime überhaupt nichts haben werden, findet Arshad Alam in “Outlook”:
There are other problems which should have been thought about before making a policy announcement. Where will the madrasa students gain admission? Madrasa certificates are already recognized for admission in the undergraduate programs of universities such as Jamia, Aligarh and JNU. The latest government move is thus not a novel instrument of policy but merely an extension of something which is already in practice. That apart, most of the madrasa graduates get admission in Urdu, Persian and Arabic departments of these universities. The equivalence criteria will do nothing to change such a state of affairs. If anything else, this academic ghettoisation of Muslim students will only increase in the near future. Without effective curricular reforms, madrasa students would not be admitted in the science or social science departments. As stated earlier, madrasa controlled by the boards do teach modern subjects, but not in English. A madrasa student, entering a university, without even a working knowledge of English, is bound to be involved in a frustrating struggle to cope up with his more fortunate peers.
They would come to institutions of higher learning only to be disappointed with their inability to crack the code of modern pedagogy. The universities and colleges in turn will label them as ‘failures’. Cumulatively this will lead to new kinds of frustrations which could be channelised for a political mobilisation of a not so benign nature. It is important to recall here that a similar exercise was done in Pakistan by the Zia ul Haq regime. While the move allowed madrasa graduates to apply for jobs, the market rejected them as they did not have the requisite educational capital. The fallout of such a policy is there for all to see: Madrasa graduates form an important part of the landscape of terrorism in that country.
