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http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=87713&pn=0
System Reboot
For close to a century, their curriculum was unchanged. Now, orthodox Muslim schools are co-opting computers alongside Kamil courses. Mohammed Safi Shamsi reports on West Bengal’s madarsa makeover Photos: Shubham Dutta

In less than a fortnight, some 25,000 students will be appearing for the High Madarsa exams in West Bengal. In many ways, they are the last link in a chain of an education system that took shape centuries ago. From next year, students will be tested on a reoriented syllabus that, for the first time, seeks to place Madarsa graduates at par with products of mainstream schools. 


While the Centre has been working on upgrading educational infrastructure in areas of high Muslim concentration for more than a decade now, it is only of late that the efforts are bearing results. In West Bengal, more than any other state, the Left Front government’s modernisation programme will see 3.5 lakh students—including non-Muslims, underprivileged and first-generation learners—of the 508 madarsas affiliated to the West Bengal Board of Madarsa Education (WBBME) benefit from an education that equips them for the 21st century. 
‘‘Reforms, as we see it, are being ushered in in phases. For students of the 2006-07 batch and thereafter, the syllabus has been reoriented. We have also introduced computerisation and computer education, upgraded infrastructure and emphasised recruitment of teachers against vacancies,’’ says Abdus Sattar, WBBME president. 
If India was recently hailed in the reputed Foreign Affairs journal for its reforms in the Madarsa sector, much of the credit must go to West Bengal. According to Sattar, ‘‘Quite a number of Boards, academic bodies and even authorities of states such as Tripura, Manipur, Rajasthan, Maharashtra have approached us for guidance and assistance in reforming their madarsa system to be in tune with broad-based general education.’’ 
Lessons from History
SO how did West Bengal come to occupy this spearheading position in madarsa revamp? According to observers, the state’s Muslim educationists have long been reform-minded: In 1915, it was at the instance of the then principal of the Dacca Senior Madarsa that Bengal adopted the ‘High Madarsa’, as distinct from the ‘Senior Madarsa’. Since then, the two streams have been available in tandem. 
While the High Madarsa syllabus adds on Arabic and Advanced Arabic courses to the regular school syllabus offered by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education—and is treated at par with Madhyamik, ICSE and CBSE boards—the Senior Madarsa is a more orthodox course. It prepares students for the Alim (class X), Fazil (class XII), Kamil (two-year graduation) and Mumtazul Muhaddethin (master’s degree) exams. 
Fundamentally unchanged since the early 20th century, the High and Senior Madarsa streams—available in the 10 affiliated madarsas in Kolkata district and 498 institutions across the state—are now set to be revamped. The reforms are based on the recommendations of the Madarsa Education Committee constituted by the West Bengal government in 2001 and headed by former state governor A R Kidwai. 
Evolving Education
Central policy is just one of the many reasons why madarsas are changingVARGHESE K GEORGE 
NEW DELHI 
NOT just the Arabic script or the Koran by rote, but science, maths and computers too. Though West Bengal may be leading the field, more and more children across India are exposed to much more than they were ever before in madarsa education. 
The factors pushing the educational boundaries in the traditionally rigid centres of learning are many. Not the least among them: Initiatives of the state, churning within the community, mass media, international politics etc. 
‘‘The realisation that modern education cannot be ignored for religious training is increasing, and madarsas are looking for new methods,’’ says Siddique Hassan, assistant secretary general of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. 
Gradually, Hassan says, madarsas in India will evolve into the pattern set by Christian Sunday schools, where children go for religious education, after attending regular school through the week. 
In most Muslim pockets of Kerala, madarsas have already demarcated timings for religious and regular schooling and all of them are affiliated to state educational boards. ‘‘In fact, an increasing number of schools attached to madarsas now want to be affiliated to CBSE and ICSE,’’ says Hassan. 
SINCE 1994, the Centre has been running a programme to improve the educational infrastructure in areas of Muslim concentration and help madarsas introduce modern courses. 
During the 10th plan, it will spend Rs 83.92 crore to allow madarsas to appoint two teachers in mathematics, science, social studies, English, Hindi etc. A one-time grant of Rs 7,000 for a science/maths kit and Rs 7,000 for establishing a book-bank is the other component of the government-funded scheme. 
Often derided as seats of obscurantism and superstitions, madarsas are, nevertheless, the only means of any formal education for a large portion of Muslims. In the last two decades, madarsas have multiplied fast—estimates put the total number between 30,000 and 40,000—and at least 50 per cent of India’s Muslims are believed to have attended one. 
Originally meant for imparting knowledge on Islamic texts, the system lost steam as technological modernisation made inroads in general education. 
WITH the heightening of fundamentalism, madarsas have come under harsh scrutiny and the arguments for and against its modernisation have become active once again. The extremely autonomous functioning of madarsas and the resistance to outside interference are often counterproductive for modernisation attempts. 
The ongoing madarsa scheme of the Centre is a voluntary one: Only those madarsas that want to need avail of the government funding. However, ‘‘the present scheme needs overhauling’’, says Zafar Ali Naqvi, member of the national monitoring committee for minorities education. 
The Naqvi committee report to the government in November 2005 recommended that the scheme be scrapped altogether and suggested an alternative mechanism. ‘‘The desired results could not be achieved in the present scheme,’’ Naqvi says. 
Among the new suggestions under consideration by the GoI is the establishment of a Central Madarsa Board, which ‘‘without interfering in the curriculum’’ of the existing madarsas, could establish Madarsa Schools ‘‘on the same lines as Central Schools.’’ 
Such schools would admit students from madarsas and be located in districts with a substantial minority population. 
The committee has also recommended an increase in the salary of the teachers. At present, they are paid Rs 2,000 a month, leading to a high turnover in science and computer teachers. 
Not everyone, however, agrees to this approach of introducing some science and computer alongside a pre-existing pedagogy. ‘‘Every Maulana is now carrying a cellphone but that doesn’t change his values,’’ asks Imtiaz Ahmad, sociologist at JNU. 
‘‘The religious knowledge system and the scientific knowledge system are different. Trying to mix them is not the answer to Muslim backwardness. Modern aspirations of Muslims should be met through modern educational facilities.’’

 	‘Quite a few school Boards, academic bodies, even states like Maharashtra and Rajasthan have approached us for guidance,’ says Madarsa Board chief 
Abdus Sattar
To the Kidwai committee report, submitted in September 2002, have been tagged on some changes in curriculum sought by the Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Bangla, a body of Bengali Muslim intellectuals. 
Course of Time
SYLLABUS changes, not unsurprisingly, are the most controversial part of the reform programme and the proposal that is evoking the most opposition from organisations representing ulemas, students and teachers. 
‘‘We are talking of changes in the 103 institutions following the Senior Madarsa system,’’ says a Board official. So far, under this system, the Alim (class X) course laid considerable stress on the study of theology: The 2006 batch of students, for instance, will be appearing for 100-mark exams in Hadith (a narration of the life of the Prophet) and Tafsir (Koranic interpretations), and 50-mark papers in Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and Faraid (Muslim inheritance laws), besides two papers in Arabic. 
Under the re-oriented syllabus, Senior Madarsa Alim students will have to sit for one Arabic paper instead of two. The 50-mark paper on inheritance laws is now optional. 
But, according to some ulemas, it is the changes in the Fazil (plus-two) stage that are the most disheartening. Compulsory theology content is down to two papers from five (200 marks instead of 500) and the four compulsory Arabic papers has been slashed to half, 200 marks instead of 400. 
‘‘Students will also have the option of studying subjects like political science, computer application and general history,’’ says Sattar. ‘‘Alongside, they can still opt for papers like Islamic philosophy and Islamic history.’’ 
Higher up in the order, the two-year Kamil course is to be restructured into a regular three-year graduation course, to bring it in line with the degrees awarded by various University Grants Commission-recognised universities. A similar reorientation has also been conceptualised for the MM course. 
Winds of Change
THE professed intent behind the rehaul, of course, is to equip madarsa graduates for mainstream, competitive jobs. While the High Madarsa stream gives students the option of joining conventional/non-theological schools and colleges for higher education, products of the Senior Madarsa system (including those who cleared the higher levels of Fazil, Kamil or MM) usually end up as teachers, businessmen or maulvis. 
According to WBBME officials, the reforms will not only help the students get just and equal treatment in the world outside their madarsas, but will equip them with both theological and modern subjects. 
Students of the madarsa system are guardedly optimistic about the changes. ‘‘We are happy about the reforms,’’ says Shahidul Islam, a second year student of the MM course, ‘‘but they will help us in career opportunities only if Senior Madarsa students are recognised as graduates or post-graduates after obtaining their Kamil or MM degrees.’’ 
Sattar, however, is convinced they are making the right beginning. ‘‘The first step to revival is getting the graduate and post-graduate degrees recognised. With reforms and reorientation of syllabi, we are in a process of getting things on track,’’ he says. 
‘‘Following the recommendations of the Kidwai Committee, various primary madarsas are also being upgraded. Teachers are being recruited for vacant posts and we are in process of providing computers to more madarsas.’’ 
Interestingly, there is no separate state kitty for madarsa reform: All the recommended steps are to be funded from the Rs 125-crore annual budget for madarsa education in the state. 
	ON A REPORM ROLL
	• Overall upgrade for madarsa education
• Modern orientation for syllabi
• Introduction of general courses of study
• Review of appointment procedures
• Overhaul of academic standards
• Improvement of status, management of Calcutta Madarsa
• Strengthening of WBBME infrastructure
Part of the Whole
BUT syllabus changes, while the most controversial, are only a portion of the madarsa revamp as it is underway in West Bengal. If the students of Calcutta Madarsa—the oldest formal educational institution in India, founded by Warren Hastings in 1780—are to be believed, it is possibly the least important part. 
With around 17 of the 21 teaching posts vacant, the 600 students of the Central Kolkata institution are mostly dependent on part-time teachers. The building—the madarsa moved here in 1827—is in a shambles. The principal’s post has been unoccupied since 1997. And perhaps worst of all: The WBBME has decided to affiliate the 225-year-old madarsa to the 150-year-old University of Calcutta. 
‘‘A university much younger than us is being requested to recognise us. This not only hurts sentiments but also affects the prestige of an institution of repute and learning,’’ says Ashraf Hussain, convener of the West Bengal Madarsa Students Union. 
The students have been protesting, acknowledges Calcutta Madarsa in-charge Tanvir Ahmed. ‘‘But the affiliation is something that the government will decide. And we are looking into the housing issues.’’ Sattar, on his part, says that the teaching vacancies will be filled soon. 
Dissent for a Cause
INNOCUOUS as they may seem, the reforms have met with more than their fair share of criticism. The West Bengal Madarsa Students’ Union, for instance, has long opposed many of the Kidwai Committee recommendations. So too have many madarsa teachers, who believe the Left Front-dominated WBBME has a ‘‘hidden agenda’’. ‘‘If madarsas resemble schools, why would madarsas be needed at all?’’ asks a teacher at Calcutta Madarsa. 
So, though state board-affiliated institutions have no choice but to adopt the reforms, most private madarsas—estimated to number around 700—are aligned against them. Basic madarsas, especially in the rural belts, continue to focus on theology, rudimentary maths and language. 
‘‘Madarsas are centres of religious learning. The main reason we don’t seek affiliation is the syllabus: The curriculum in government madarsas shifts the focus from theology,’’ says Qazi Fazlur Rahman, head of the Madarsa Azmatiya, a well-known private institution. ‘‘At the same time, we aren’t against the introduction of modern subjects.’’ 
In fact, it is in this spirit that the future of West Bengal’s madarsas seems most secure: The urge for modernisation comes from within the system, if still only a small part of it. 
‘‘We put as much emphasis on computer science, languages, science as we do on Islamic studies,’’ says Saba Ismail, principal of Babul Uloom, a private madarsa in Kolkata. 
At the ground level, in West Bengal at least, there is acceptance of the need for change. ‘‘There is no harm in introducing new subjects,’’ says Dr M K A Siddiqui, former researcher and professor with The Asiatic Society. ‘‘But it should be accompanied by upgrades in infrastructure and recruitment of teachers. Some sections are usually hostile (to any kind of reform). Sincerity and a little bit of extra endeavour on part of the government would make all the difference.’’ 


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