This was the primary time he had used MS Word. As they typed the primary phrase on that small, white display, Mohammad Asad Ansari and Muhammad Shahnawaz knew that they had opened the door to a world of alternatives for the nation’s thousands and thousands of Muslim college students.
Shahnawaz and Ansari are academics in madrassas, privately run establishments that present Islamic schooling and are an integral a part of the academic system for the overwhelming majority of the nation’s 200 million Muslim inhabitants.
While Ansari teaches Urdu at Madrasa Zeenatul Quran in Seelampur, Delhi, Shahnawaz teaches Islamic research at Jamia Ayesha Lilbant, a university for girls in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarpur district.
From 22 August to 22 September, the 2 had been a part of a gaggle of 20 Muslim academics who had been intensively skilled in Pune, with the main target of the curriculum on digital studying and communication, particularly spoken English. “In the madrassa, the focus is actually on subjects like Islamic studies and moral science… how you should behave in society, etc… we don’t teach modern subjects like science. These subjects are to be taught as well. should be,” Shahnawaz mentioned.
During coaching, he mentioned, a few of them had been utilizing a keyboard and holding a mouse for the primary time.
The curriculum is the results of a devoted technique by the Alliance for Economic and Educational Development of the Underprivileged (AEEDU), with the purpose of upgrading the abilities of madrasa academics, and people educating in faculties run by Muslim organisations.
While it not too long ago hit headlines after reaching out to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to debate points associated to the Muslim neighborhood, AEEDU was born through the Covid-19 pandemic.
As faculties and schools had been closed and courses moved on-line, the eye of a gaggle of Muslim intellectuals and buddies was drawn to the nation’s underprivileged communities. He took it upon himself to ask for assist.
With most members of its management group teachers, AEEDU’s focus was on schooling.
Shahid Siddiqui, common secretary of AEEDU, mentioned that when the group began working, it was realized that Muslims are extra deprived than different communities by way of schooling. “The students of these schools, including madrasas, have no future,” he mentioned.
Siddiqui mentioned the state of affairs was not like Christians for Muslims, “who have a strong education system”, and college students from SC/ST communities, “who also have some benefits through reservation”. He mentioned that this hole is clearly seen in digital schooling. “So there was a double backwardness in education and digital literacy,” he mentioned.
“If we can prepare our students properly, their employability will increase. This is the age of technology; We need to keep pace with the times,” he mentioned.
With the primary batch being skilled, AEEDU’s efforts are already rewarding. In his madrassa in Seelampur, Ansari mentioned that solely Urdu, Hindi, English, Arabic and calligraphy are taught to the scholars. There are additionally laptop courses for older college students, however no “modern” topics. “This dialogue within madrasas should start now,” he mentioned.
As an advisor to former Union Minority Affairs Minister Ok Rehman Khan, AEEDU’s management group consists of former VC of Aligarh Muslim University Lt Gen Zameer Uddin Shah, former CEC SY Qureshi, former LG of Delhi and former VC of Jamia Millia Islamia Najeeb Jung. , Chancellor of KR Mangalam University Prof. Dinesh Singh and many others.
The group’s efforts aren’t restricted to Muslims – Jung mentioned AEEDU is trying “on a much broader canvas” to enhance instructional requirements among the many most deprived, “apparently to Dalits, Muslims and other poor sections of society”. concentrating on.”
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
