Leveraging technological interventions
The traditional and historic purpose of madarsa has been to impart holistic education to Muslims. However, madarsas in India are limited to provide only religious education. This has been a direct outcome of the cut in funds for technological advancement of these institutions which have made them less competent in the globalised world dominated by privatised and technologically advanced education system.
However, a large segment of Muslim population—more specifically the marginalised section of the society—in India is still dependent on madarsa system for receiving education. There is evidence to demonstrate that neighbourhoods in Indian cities with a higher concentration of Muslims lack adequate provision of government schools and anganwadis. Therefore, parents in these neighbours rely on madarsas for imparting educations to their wards. Moreover, marginalised Muslims get their children enrolled to madarsa as there are additional facilities of boarding and lodging offered by these institutes. Thus, madarsas have been instrumental in not only providing basic education and religious knowledge but also removes the economic burden of raising children from parents who struggle for shelter and bread.
While the education received from madarsas is largely dominated by religious ethos and Urdu literature, the madarsas in some parts of India have introduced modern education in their curriculum, thereby bringing a paradigm shift from the traditional system. Some of the madarsas have also provided their students with the choice to write matriculation exams through open schooling. This has unequivocally resulted in Muslim communities demanding more quality education from their madarsa.
Thus, acknowledging the demands of the communities and recent development in the madarsa model of education, AEEDU advocates for the modernisation of madarsas as an imperative for promoting modern and secular outlook among students. AEEDU has envisaged helping madarsas achieve alternative credentials through skill and competency boot camps and enable their students to achieve micro-credentials and nano-degrees that would enable them to have access to better employment opportunities. This would empower them to participate as equal partners in development and nation building. We argue that madarsas are viable spaces for articulating universal values through means of education and therefore, must be modernised to meet the changing phase of the globalised education systems in India. Furthermore, madarsa are an integral part of Muslim cultural heritage must be preserved as a marker of the identity of the Muslim community in India.