Although the Delhi-based National Commission of Minority Educational Institutions recommended the establishment of a Central Madarsa Board (CMB) to standardise and upgrade the disparate and often arbitrary syllabuses of the countrys estimated 30,000 madarsa schools in April 2007, theres been little forward movement to action the proposal. Educationists believe this is because of the sharp dualism between the ulema, religious scholars educated in traditional madarsas, and the small, ‘modern educated Muslim middle class.Influential sections of the mass media tend to portray the ulema and the educational institutions that they run (madarsas, maktabs, seminaries etc) in stereotypically negative terms, as being wholly and fiercely opposed to reform. However such depictions of the ulema are less than accurate. Actually a growing number of the ulema are the most ardent advocates of maktab and madarsa reform. And the progressive clergy is increasingly soliciting the help of NGOs and secular educationists to engineer reforms in minority-run education institutions. A case in point of collaboration between the traditional ulema and non-Muslim civil society groups is the Jeevan Talim educational project in rural Kutch in north Gujarat. A joint project of the Jamiat-i Ulema-i Hind, a leading body of ulema associated with the Deoband seminary, and the Ahmedabad-based Janvikas, (through its initiative Udaan, a resource centre working on primary education), the project was initiated in 2004 with a grant from Misereor, a German Catholic relief and development agency. The aim of the project is to provide remedial, pluralistic and inclusive education and teach basic numeracy and literacy skills to Muslim children in the age group four-10 years in selected areas of Kutch where no government-funded education facilities exist. The prime purpose of the project is to prepare students for admission into government schools in classes IV-V. The project entails organising Jeevan Talim classes providing secular education in maktab precincts, or, in villages and hamlets that dont have maktabs, in the porch of local mosques, with the timings suitably adjusted so that the childrens Islamic education would not be interrupted or disturbed. Where possible, the maulvi or Islamic scholar teaching in the maktab would be engaged to take the Jeevan Talim class as well, for which he will be paid additionally. If there is no adequately qualified maulvi available in the village or its neighbourhood, then a local youth, male or female, would be engaged as teacher. Because the levels of education in rural Kutch, particularly among Muslims, are extremely low, provision was also made for suitable pedagogical training of maulvis and local youth selected as instructors in Jeevan Talim centres. Subjects to be taught in the centres include basic literacy in Gujarati, numeracy skills, environmental awareness, as well as music and theatre. It was expected that after completing Jeevan Talim classes, children would be ready to join the nearest government primary school. To start with, a total of 14 villages in northern Kutch, many of them on the fringes of the Rann, the vast stony desert that spills across the border into neighbouring Pakistan, were selected…
