Twitter
Advertisement

Reservation for Dalit Muslims to be considered by ministries

The high-level committee set up by the HRD Ministry in the wake of the Sachar Committee report is understood to have decided to pass on the issue of reservation for Dalit Muslims to ministries concerned.

Latest News
article-main
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

NEW DELHI: The high-level committee set up by the HRD Ministry in the wake of the Sachar Committee report is understood to have decided to pass on the issue of reservation for Dalit Muslims to ministries concerned.

Sources in the Committee, headed by Minister of State for HRD MAA Fatmi, said that the demand for reservation for Dalit Muslims was raised during proceedings of the meetings of the committee but it was felt that it should be referred to Home and Social Justice Ministries.

The sources said that the key issue does not come under the purview of the Committee which was solely set up to go into the education aspects of the Sachar committee findings.

The Committee would be submitting its report on Wednesday to HRD Minister Arjun Singh after a meeting in which it would give finishing touches to the document.

Turning proactive Singh had last month constituted a committee headed by Fatmi to prepare a plan of action to improve education among Muslims.

The 13-member Fatmi committee was asked to examine various findings of Sachar committee concerning the education sector, formulate views on them and submit its report by January 31.

But Fatmi had earlier said that he would submit his report by January 10 so that the HRD Ministry could take it up with the Planning Commission for consideration in the next Union Budget.

The Fatmi committee had met Muslim MPs and NGOs working in the field of Muslim education last month to seek their views on the issue.

Based on their suggestions, the Committee is expected to highlight the need for special allocation for education among Muslims, thrust on adult education, setting up schools and pre-school anganwadis in Muslim dominated areas, four campuses each of the Aligarh Muslim University and Maulana Azad Urdu University.

Residential schools for girls on the lines of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas to check high dropout rates among Muslim girls and scholarships for needy Muslim students to help them pursue higher education were also some of the suggestions made earlier.

The Sachar committee had pointed out that the level of literacy among Muslims was 59.1 per cent which was lower than the national level of 65.1 per cent as per 2001 census.

Muslims in rural areas have an even lower literacy of 52.2 per cent.

It had said that based on NSSO data one-fourth of Muslim children in 6-14 years age group have either never attended school or are dropouts. In terms of drop out rates, Muslims rank only marginally higher than SCs/STs.

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement