John Kurrien

The major thesis of this contribution is that the overwhelming majority of private low-cost and "... more The major thesis of this contribution is that the overwhelming majority of private low-cost and "free" government English medium schools in India, are not empowering institutions for the millions of poor and lower middle class students they serve. In fact they are fundamentally miseducative, and their expansion should be discouraged. By English medium schooling is meant that students are instructed in all school subjects in English. It should be highlighted that a basic knowledge of English is critical for all students, especially the disadvantaged, since English plays a dominant role in all aspects of life in India. However, this does not imply that vulnerable students should be studying all school subjects in English. In fact, as articulated later, the teaching of English as a subject should be significantly improved in the majority of Indian schools, where all other subjects is taught in one of India's many regional languages.This has also been the focus of pedagogical reform in most schools throughout the non-English speaking world. The following discussion on English medium schooling in India is broadly applicable to the experience of many other former British colonies in Asia and Africa. It needs to be viewed in the context of its continuing dominance as the medium of instruction in schools, and thus as a prerequisite for higher education and various forms of remunerative and prestigious employment promoting social mobility. From the 50's to the 90's, English medium fee-charging private schooling was dominated by India's middle and wealthy classes while the far larger number of poor and lower middle class students attended mainly government schools, taught in one of India's many regional languages. However, the latter started to migrate to English medium schools in the nineties and subsequent decades, due to the growing globalisation and liberalisation of the Indian

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A New Agenda For The Education Of Indian Muslims In The 21 Century

A New Agenda For The Education Of Indian Muslims In The 21 Century available on dedicated website www.educationofmuslimsindia.org, 2019

My independent and non-commissioned report entitled, "A New Agenda for the Education of Indian M... more My independent and non-commissioned report entitled, "A New Agenda for the Education of Indian Muslims in the 21st Century", is about 180 pages long (55,000 words). For its wider national and international diffusion, it has been uploaded on a dedicated website www.educationofmuslimsindia.org , along with a short summary as well as action points for implementation. The latter two documents are also available in 9 other languages - Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Urdu. These are meant for a non - English speaking audience covering most Indian states which have large Muslim populations.

Highlighting the learning /development deficits and requirements of 3 distinct groups of poor and lower middle class Indian Muslims under 25 years - 2.1 crores (21 million) of young children below 6 years; 2.7 crores (27 million) of school-going students, and the larger numbers of 3.1 cores (31 million) of neglected out-of school / college Muslim youth - this report articulates a new agenda for their development and education. The report’s three main agenda goals focuses separately on the development/education of each of these 3 main target groups of vulnerable young Muslims. Only an uncompromising focus on improving the inter-dependent learning of these 3 disadvantaged groups of young Muslims can enable them to engage constructively with the important challenges of 21st Century India, and to meet the larger crisis faced by all Indian Muslim communities.

While the report articulates relevant government policies for these groups, the separate action points document on the website –part of the last chapter of this report – highlights what else needs to be undertaken to complement government strategies and schemes. These action points/recommendations are provided in 7 charts detailing initiatives that can be undertaken by Muslim organisations and other Civil Society groups for policy advocacy, capacity building and community-level efforts to promote the development/ education of young vulnerable Muslims totalling 790 lakhs (79 million).

The report also highlights recent post – Sachar Report data indicating that, compared to SCs and STs, Muslims are now the most educationally disadvantaged group in India at all levels of education, with striking inter-state and inter-district differences in Muslim school enrolment. The policy implications of this and other issues such as the reform of girls’ education and madrasas, and what should be the medium of instruction for disadvantaged Muslim students (Urdu/ English/ regional languages) are also articulated in some detail. From the perspective of meeting the development and educational needs of vulnerable young Muslims the report highlights the strengths and limitations of the iconic 2006 Sachar Committee Report, and the more recent 2019 Draft National Educational Policy.

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