Present Scenario of Madrasah Education

Present Scenario of Madrasah Education

Maintaining the tradition of Madrasah Education in the State, the Board at present working in the field of Madrasah Education to achieve four goals, namely (i) access and enrolment, (ii) retention, (iii) bridging of gender and social category gaps and (iv) quality education. Keeping in view the recommendations of National Curriculum Framework -2005, the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first century, Madrasah Education Committee-2002, The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act-2009 and other Committees and Commissions aiming at to fulfill the demand of 21st century knowledge society, the Board has achieved the following considerable progress towards its goals which are being praised and accepted in National and International level.

Growth of Madrasah Education: At present, there are 609 recognised Madrasahs in our state. 102 Madrasahs are running under Senior Madrasah Education System and rest 493 Madrasahs are under High Madrasah Education System:

a. 395 out of 609 Madrasahs are High Madrasahs,112 Madrasahs are Junior High Madrasahs and remaining 102 Madrasahs are Senior Madrasahs.

b. 55 Senior Madrasahs have been upgraded to Fazil (10+2) Madrasahs.

c. 195 High Madrasahs have been upgraded to Higher Secondary (10+2) Madrasahs.

d. 183 Madrasahs are running with Vocational Courses for skill development.

e. Out of total recognized Madrasahs 42 are girls, 564 are co-educational, 3 are boys and 17 are running under Urdu medium.

Secular character: The Madrasahs of West Bengal are open to all. Children from different social, economic and cultural backgrounds, disadvantaged, minority communities, landless and children with disabilities or special needs, irrespective of gender are enrolled to these Madrasahs. Any person irrespective of cast, creed and gender may be appointed as Teacher of the Madrasah, non-teaching staff and members of the Managing Committee.

Equal Access: With a view to ensure right to free & compulsory elementary education of every child (RTE Act-2009) it has been stressed that no student will left outside the school due to financial constraints. The Madrasah Education up to class XII in all recognized aided institution is free. No tuition fee is charged. Also gender equity is maintained in a more effective manner. The comfort zone of the girl-child is being enhanced. The Govt. in Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education Department has allotted sufficient grants towards Girls Common Room, Toilet and Drinking Water, Mess and Hostel and Girls Incentives. From the statistics it is evident that more than 60% of the enrolled students in the Madrasahs are girls. Also a large number of students are first generation learner coming from socio-economically backward families.

Equivalence and convergence: The certificate of High Madrasah Examination (class 10th standard) is equivalent to Madhyamik Pariksha of West Bengal Board of Secondary Education and is recognized at the national level. Students passing out from here are not only eligible for admission to all Higher Secondary level schools through out the country but also may go for any stream they like. The class 10th public examination in Senior Madrasah system namely Alim examination is also equivalent to Madhyamik Pariksha. The students pass out from those Senior madrasahs may opt for Higher Secondary level education in any higher Secondary schools under West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education and they may continue their higher studies in Senior Madrasah system pursuing theology along with others upto University level. The Fazil (10+2) examination under Senior Madrasah Education System is equivalent to Higher Secondary (10+2) examination of West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education. The Kamil [General and Honours (10+2+3)] and M.M. (10+2+3) under Senior Madrasah Education System are equivalent to General and Honours Graduate Degree and Post Graduate degree of any Indian University respectively. Thus the Madrasahs are well converged with the main stream education system of the state and students are free to move between two systems according to their choice. In this way the vertical and horizontal convergence and main streaming is well harmonized what ever may the medium of instruction i.e. Bengali / Urdu.

Co-educational status: 564 out of 609 recognised Madrasahs (including Senior Madrasahs) are co-educational. 47 Madrasahs are for girls and 3 for boys only. One of the four pillars of Education “ Learning to Live together” is being nurtured with due care. The issue of gender disparity has duly been addressed. It is to be noted that the percentage of girls enrolment is nearly double than that of the boys in Madrasahs.

Balanced Curriculum: The West Bengal School Curriculum and Syllabus Comparability Committee 2002 has thoroughly revised the curriculum from Primary to Higher Secondary and submitted report to the State Government. The Board in consultation with academicians, subject experts and other stake- holders and in the light of the recommendation of the above mentioned committee, other Education Commission and Committees along with NCF -2005 keeping in touch with the syllabus of other national Boards / Councils has framed a balanced curriculum which is not only a unique blend of moral teaching learning with modern science and technology based education but also a balanced blend of co scholastic areas with scholastic one. Special emphasis has been given on peer learning and remedial lesson with the aim to successful implementation of the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation at Madrasah level.

Type of Madrasah	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-2010	2010-2011
Jr. High	26	21	83	99	110
High	378	383	387	394	394
H.S.	95	99	154	167	172
Senior	102	102	102	102	102
Fazil	17	25	32	54	55
Madrasahs with Vocational Education		84	103	156	156

No. of students in recognised Madrasahs are 4,47,017 (approximate as on August 2010)

No. of Boys : 1,82,784 i.e. 40.89 %

No. of Girls : 2,64,233 i.e. 59.11%

Secular character: The Madrasahs of West Bengal are open to all. Children from different social, economic and cultural backgrounds, disadvantaged, minority communities, landless and children with disabilities or special needs, irrespective of gender are enrolled to these Madrasahs. Any person irrespective of cast, creed and gender may be appointed as Teacher of the Madrasah (including Head of the institution), non-teaching staff and members of the Managing Committee. At present 17% students and 11% teaching and non-teaching staff of High Madrasahs and significant numbers of the member of the Managing Committee are non-muslims. In few Madrasahs muslim students are minority namely i) Orgram Chatuspallly High Madrasah (Burdwan) ii) Kasba MM High Madrasah (Uttar Dinajpur) iii) Chandrakona Islamia High Madrasah (Paschim Midnapore) iv) Dabra High Madrasah (Hooghly) and v) Sagar Moniruddin High Madrasah (South 24 Pgs.). Another remarkable fact is that a good number of students in a Senior Madrasah namely Panditpur Islamia Senior Madrasah in the district of Murshidabad are non-muslim. It disproves the anticipation that Madrasah imparts theology based education to a particular religion.

Equal Access: With a view to ensure right to free and compulsory elementary education of every child (RTE Act-2009) it has been stressed that no student will left outside the school due to financial constraints. The Madrasah Education up to class XII in all recognized aided institution is free. No tuition fee is charged. Also gender equity is maintained in a more effective manner. The comfort zone of the girl-child is being enhanced. The Govt. in Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education Department has allotted sufficient grants towards Girls Common Room, Toilet and Drinking Water, Mess and Hostel facilities and Girls’ Incentives. From the statistics it is evident that more than 60% of the enrolled students in the Madrasahs are girls. Also a large number of students are first generation learner coming from socio-economically backward families.

Equivalence and convergence: The certificate of High Madrasah Examination (class 10th standard) is equivalent to Madhyamik Pariksha of West Bengal Board of Secondary Education and is recognized at the national level. Students passing out from here are not only eligible for admission to all Higher Secondary level schools through out the country but also may go for any stream they like. The class 10th public examination in Senior Madrasah system namely Alim examination is also equivalent to Madhyamik Pariksha. The students who pass out from those Senior madrasahs may opt for Higher Secondary level education in any higher Secondary schools under West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education and they may continue their higher studies in Senior Madrasah system pursuing theology along with others upto University level. The Fazil (10+2) examination under Senior Madrasah Education System is equivalent to Higher Secondary (10+2) examination of West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education. The Kamil [General and Honours (10+2+3)] and M.M. (10+2+3) under Senior Madrasah Education System are equivalent to General and Honours Graduate Degree and Post Graduate degree of any Indian University respectively. Thus the Madrasahs are well converged with the main stream education system of the state and students are free to move between two systems according to their choice. In this way the vertical and horizontal convergence and main streaming is well harmonized what ever may be the medium of instruction i.e. Bengali / Urdu.