Shahabuddin's Letter to The Azad Academy Journal, 17 November, 1999
May I refer to Prof. Naseem A. Zaidi's rejoinder in your issue of November, 1999.
Prof. Zaidi seems to be obsessed with the Public School System and with English as medium of instruction.
I do not think he has analysed the results of the Civil Services etc. Examination conducted by the UPSC for the last two decades. An increasing proportion among the entrants to the highest services in the country have a rural and middle class, even lower, background.
The Muslim community, as usual, delays until after the situation changes. It began establishing public schools and English-medium schools, after they lost dominance, under democratic compulsion in recruitment to public employment. And why should he presume that the Muslim asses can only produce shopkeepers, artisans and subordinate service holders!
Nor does Prof. Zaidi realise that a vast majority of candidates entering professional degree courses, who come through State level admission tests, come not from the elite but the masses. And the competitive spirit that Prof. Zaidi speaks of arises from the very fact of schooling which permits human genius to flower, which opens eyes and generates aspirations and which makes parents suffer deprivation to give best possible opportunity to their offspring.
The IQ, let me assume Prof. Zaidi, knows no class. Nor has Allah discriminated in any way in the distribution of brain cells that a child possesses.
Soon, hopefully universal elementary education shall be introduced. This will lead to neighbourhood schools. I hope and pray that all Muslim children will benefit. Statistically, if all Muslim children enter the primary school and if the drop-out rate is zero, or at least no higher than national rate, upto high school, the wide base will produce enough deserving Muslim candidates for higher and professional education and a very small % of them will come from Prof. Zaidi's elite!
Of course we have to keep an eye on the content of education and the school culture, but that is another question.
On the question of mother tongue as medium of instruction for primary education, there can be no compromise. Urdu-medium primary student will not learn only Urdu; he will also learn the principal language of the State e.g. Hindi in UP and shall not find it difficult to switch to it as medium of instruction in higher classes. A child proficient and articulate in his M.T. can easily pick up a second or a third language.
Prof. Zaidi is wrong when he says that the Christians are less endowed. They have vast reasons - internal and external - both individually and collectively.
Yes, the Muslim community lacks the missing zeal. But I am the last person to advocate that Muslim children should go exclusively to Muslim educational institutions. Indeed we have neither the resources nor the manpower nor the experience to take over the task of educating our community on our own. Muslim community must demand educational facilities on par with others.
Once again Prof. Zaidi has pitted reservation in government employment against competition in the job market. Does he realise that 80% of the total budget of the Union and the States goes to Government employees - high and low. We should have our due share. Secondly, there is increasing demand for reservation in public and private sectors of the economy as well as in higher and professional education. It will come.
Thirdly, if the Muslims do not enjoy reservation as a Backward Class, they shall compete only for the ever- decreasing General Pool. Can even the Muslim elite compete in the General Pool against the communities which are far more advanced and which offer far greater number of over-qualified candidates?
On Urdu in Primary Education, Shahabuddin's Letters
I - To C.M.of Delhi, 22 October, 1999
While I welcome the decision of the MCD to introduce English from Class I. I am left to wonder about the academic space left for the Mother Tongue of the students whose M.T. is a language other than Hindi.
I, therefore, request you to ensure that the introduction of English does not mean elimination of Urdu and Punjabi from the School curriculum.
In the spirit of the Constitution the children of the linguistic minorities should be able to learn M.T., Hindi and English and, to the extent possible, receive primary instruction through the medium of their M.T.
Il - To C.M,of Maharashtra, 9 December, 1999
I have learnt from the newspapers that the Government of Maharashtra propose to introduce English from Class I w.e.f. January 2000.
This would imply that the Marathi-speaking student shall have Marathi, Hindi and English and Marathi shall be his medium of instruction.
I would be grateful to be informed of the scheme for non-Marathi children belonging to linguistic minorities. Their medium should be their mother tongue and they will have to learn 4 languages: Mother Tongue, Marathi, Hindi and English. Wouldn't this be a very heavy load for young children. May I suggest that a composite course of Hindi and Marathi be evolved for. non-Marathi-speaking children? In the case of Urdu-speaking children, a possible allocation is a composite Hindi-Urdu course.
I would be grateful for your kind consideration.