The wind is fast changing in Gujarat after infamous 2002 Gujarat riots on education front.

BY Abdul hafiz lakhani Ahmedabad

The wind is fast changing in Gujarat after infamous 2002 Gujarat riots on education front.Muslims have focused heavily on this most ignored sphere before genocide of muslims in that fateful year as the results of Gujarat state education Board's results of Std. 10 and 12 showed very recently. In Std 12, the general sream there are atleast 10 Muslimsstudents including nine girls who are among toppers in as many as 7 districts of state. While in science stream std 12 , there are 8 Muslims including a girl who ar among topppers in as many as 6 districts of state. In Ahmedabad in Std 12 th General stream. Sheikh Azrabanu od F.D. girls gigh school of Jamalpur is ninth in city with 92% marks while Saiyed Zakia with 91.86% marks is tenth in the city. Azrabanu wants to be a professor while zakia wants persue a career in MBA. More importantly, Zakia is from very poor family. Despite heavy odds she got such a wonderful achievement. she was clever fronm her childhood. In New SSC, exam two years before she passed with shining colours. There are two Muslim students who got more than 90 percent marks in science stream Std 12. Bhan Kasim od Rander, surat dist scored 92 percent while sharsiya Arsad romped home with 92.2% In NewSSc results there 14 Muslims who are among toppers in various districts of state. Patel Rozmin of Bharuch who got 95% while kanuga shams maksud of Surat who scored 94.46% Apart from these students there are 10 students who got more 90% marks which was dream before 2002 riots. By going this results it loks that there is considerable change happening among the Gujarati Muslims, particularly the youth today. the same time, there is process of modernisation underway. For many Muslim youth the core issues are unemployment, poverty, illiteracy, strained inter-communal relations, and the feeling of being haunted and branded because one has a Muslim name.Young educated Muslims are also stressing the need for social reforms, including in matters such as gender relations. Even some ulema are talking about the need for girls' education, not only for its own sake but also to empower the community as a whole. “There is definitely a rising trend of Muslim students, both boys and girls, getting admitted to medical institutes in the last couple of years’’, points out Dr Jayshree Mehta, dean of the SBKS Medical Institute and Research Centre at Waghodia in Vadodara district. Though she was not able to give the exact figures of Muslim students in her institute, Mehta, who taught for about three decades in Baroda Medical College before moving over to this institute, said strength of Muslim students was very negligible in the past but the trend had completely changed now. “More and more Muslims are securing admissions on merit basis’’, points out Dr Mehta. Dr GN Shukla, Principal of Vivekanand Institute of Medical Sciences and Research at Valia in Bharuch district, also fully supports the findings of the NGOs. “In my institute, I have noticed an increase in Muslim students strength. And what is more amazing is that Muslim students from financially poor background have secured admission on merit basis’’, commented Shukla. He hold the rising educational awareness, of late, among Gujarati muslims responsible for increase of muslim students strength in professional, particularly, medical institutes. Kamal Pathak, Dean of Baroda Medical College, said he had noticed some increase in the number of Muslim students in medical courses in the last couple of years but expressed his inability to give increase in percentage saying that such datas were not maintained in medical institutions. The literacy rate among Muslims in Gujarat has increased by 10 per cent in the last decade and at 73 per cent is higher than the overall literacy rate in the state.Julaya Shabnam is the first literate in her family and now she recently got honours to be the first graduate in her family . Living in Jamalpur in the walled city of Ahmedabad, Julaya's parents ensured that their daughter got a proper education. education is the only solution to the problems faced by Muslims. "We have to stand on our own legs. The situation is not what it used to be. You can no longer remain an illiterate," said Shamima Bano, a student.While a college f. D. girls for Muslim women in Ahmedabad, which had only 80 students in 1993, today has over 1,000 students.This goes to show the increasing consciousness about importance of education in the community.The Census data too reflects the growing significance of this trend. The literacy rate of Muslims in Gujarat has increased by over 10 per cent in ten years to 73.9 per cent.This is much higher than the state's average of 69.1 per cent and the all-India Muslim literacy rate of 59 per cent. Female literacy too is higher than the national average at 54 per cent.It's a response, social activists say, to the insecurity the community has faced in Gujarat for many years. But instead of being pushed into ghettos, access to colleges and awareness campaigns have meant that even the orthodox sections, chose more liberal education systems to madrasas."After the Babri mosque demolition there has been a growing consciousness amongst the community on the importance of liberal secular education and this has forced even orthodox people to send their children to liberal education systems," said MOhammed Husain Joher director of SPART an Ahmedabad based NGO Another reason for the high literacy rate among Muslims is due to the rapid urbanisation in Gujarat with Muslims concentrated in many of the bigger cities like Ahmedabad, Vadodra and Surat"Naturally in urban areas the literacy rate is higher and so in Gujarat the literacy rate amongst Muslims is higher than the all-India Muslim literacy rate," said Baroda based social activist and senior ofice bearer of WMO Zuber Gopani .While the scars of the communal frenzy of 2002 have not quite healed, the silent literacy revolution in Gujarat is a powerful rejoinder to those who have tried to stereotype the Gujarati Muslim. In the last few years, especially since 1992, when the Babri Masjid was destroyed and Gujarat witnessed considerable violence, Muslims have been giving particular attention to education. In fact, today Muslims in Gujarat have a higher overall literacy rate than Hindus, although their relative representation at the higher levels of education is much less. There are a number of new Muslim schools coming up today in Gujarat today. On the one hand, setting up modern schools is, of course, a good thing. It shows that Muslims are awakening to the importance of education. But, on the other hand, often because Muslims often are denied admission in Hindu-managed schools, they are setting up their own schools which may not be of very high standard and which are culturally exclusive. There is, in addition, the fact that some groups who claim to speak for all Muslims or for Islam also don't want Muslim children to study with others.Now, the problem is that this might further increase cultural ghettoisation and that students will grow up without ever having had the chance to make friends with people of their age from other communities. In such community-specific schools, Hindu as well as Muslim, there is also the danger that this would further entrench communal stereotypes and all sorts of obscurantism and feelings of insularity. For instance, some people associated with the Tablighi Jamaat are now setting up Muslim schools in different parts of Gujarat.If those working in the field are to be believed, more than 500 students belonging to wealthy families have sought admission in private medical colleges in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala last year. And some have moved over to Central Asian countries and a few to Russia. Karnataka, Muslims intelluals told that “Post-Godhra, lot of churning has gone into Muslim minds in Gujarat. Muslims are realising that they can’t live with dignity and respect, and prevent incidents like Godhra if they are not equipped with the best of education’’. This trend is driving Muslim parents to send their children to educational institutions rather than teaching them crafts just to earn a living.