Only 5% Muslim kids rely on madrassas for education in Gujarat

The high number of out-of-school children among the Muslim community in Gujarat has created a ripple in the establishment.

Amongst several attempts to deny this statistic - a result of a survey by IMRB for Central government - one argument was that "several" Muslim students go only to madrassas (a school imparting religious education) which skews the overall numbers.

When probed deeper by speaking to experts in the community, it emerged that only about 4-5% of students exclusively go to madrassa, and not a majority as implied.

The number of out of school students in the Muslim community increased by 33% between 2005 and 2009 in state. While the number has decreased in most of states in the country, Gujarat is amongst those states that have actually shown an increase.

President of Majlis-e-Tahaffuz-e-Madaris, Gujarat Mufti Ahmed Devalvi, said, "Unlike Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, students in Gujarat go to mainstream schools after studying for three hours in madrassas.

Only 4-5% students pursue all of their higher level studies in a madrassa, 95% go to mainstream school and a madrassa only additionally.

There would be around 10,000 small madrassas in Gujarat and 150 with hostel facilities. Out of these only 10-15 offer mainstream education courses, rest focus on religious education."

President of BJP's minority wing Mahebubali Bava Saheb said, "It is true that most of the madrassas impart religious teaching to students but there are some, which have introduced subjects and courses of mainstream education.