Title: Muslim Minority Girls’ in Delhi: An analytical ...dise.in/Downloads/Use of Dise Data/Muslim Minority Girls’ in... · The Indian Constitution intends to assure Muslims and

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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).

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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

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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



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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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



New Delhi 34.4 58.1


North East Delhi 63.5 51.2

North West Delhi 47.1 50.6


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



New Delhi 74.84 100






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



New Delhi 48.67 48.39






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

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http://www.mospi.gov.in

http://www.dise.in

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Title: Muslim Minority Girls’ in Delhi: An analytical ...dise.in/Downloads/Use of Dise Data/Muslim Minority Girls’ in... · The Indian Constitution intends to assure Muslims and