MUMBAI, May 29:
Stressing on the need for education in the Muslim community, Vice President Mohammed Hamid Ansari today said India cannot emerge as a modern, developed nation without its largest minority being a part of the growth story.
“Education, therefore, is the most important socio-economic challenge for the Muslim community; its deficit is the biggest impediment in its progress, prosperity and empowerment,” Ansari said while inaugurating the ‘Muslim Educational Conference’ organised by Maulana Azad Vichar Manch here.
He said Muslim communities have for long ignored the need for education and through it knowledge and, as a result, deprived themselves of the good that emanates from education.
Stating that the Muslims are lagging behind on all human development indices, he said the rural areas with concentration of Muslim population are lagging behind in access to social and physical infrastructure such as schools, health centres, roads, housing, sewage and water supply.
“Access to bank credit is low and inadequate,” he said.
“While India has experienced accelerated growth and development in recent years, not all religious and social groups have shared equally the benefits of the growth process.
“Among these, the Muslims, the largest minority in the country, are lagging behind on all human development indices,” Ansari said.
Lamenting the low representation of the community in central and state public services including police and armed forces, he said due to lagging behind in education they cannot avail of all benefits that are available to fellow citizens.
Ansari said that due to educational backwardness of the Muslim community, it has led them to higher unemployment, rampant underemployment and confinement to traditional, low paying professions and under-representation in modern organised business sector.
He, however, expressed happiness over the high rate of admission at primary level among the Muslims, which shows their intense desire to seek modern education.
Ansari also stressed for education to women in the community. “We will have to focus on female literacy, both in the national context and in the case of the Muslim community. In rural areas, schools for girls up to senior secondary level should be made mandatory to ensure that girls continue their education,” he said.
“There is also an urgent need for village level centres to lower the girls drop out rates as they start attaining adolescence. This will also have a positive impact on employment and income generation for the families. In many pursuits, educated and trained girls can work from home and generate income for the family,” Ansari added. (PTI)
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