Problems and Prospects of Education of Urdu Minorities – An analysis

 Kothari Commission (1964-66) is of the opinion that the destiny of India is being shaped by the four walls of the classroom. The inference of the report indicates four walls of the classroom where the child is being taught is a class in their mother tongue. Sixteen percent of Indians are Muslims and Urdu is the major language spoken by this community which forms just above 5% of the total Indian population (census 2001). This population is spread across the nation and not concentrated in any specific geographical location. Hence, this language does not enjoy the real official status of any of the states except the states of Jammu and Kashmir where it is the first official language. The other state and national governments are not spending much on the education of speakers of this language. However, slight improvement has occurred in the plight of Urdu speakers as few states are in the direction of adopting it as the state’s official language. The states of Delhi and Telangana have made praiseworthy movements in this direction as Urdu is the second official language of these states with Uttar Pradesh and Bihar also promoting this language. The centre has started a national University at Hyderabad with its centres and satellite campuses across India, along with states taking initiatives to establish Urdu Universities at Uttar Pradesh and Bihar each. The states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi etc. have been offering Urdu medium education for school children. However, the diversely spread Urdu population has caused many problems in the spread of education because of widespread population and other reasons. Here, it is worth mentioning that the majority of the Muslim population belonging to states like Kerala, West Bengal, Assam, Gujarat etc. are not offering Urdu medium education in schools, but some of them teach Urdu as one of the Modern Indian languages (MIL) as an option. Hence, the achievements in language learning of students coming from Urdu medium and other medium with Urdu as an option is also different. The majority of Madarsa Schools offer religious education with more emphasis on Arabic, however, they also learn Urdu. But, the extent of modern knowledge offered in these schools vis-a-vis regular schools is also an area of concern. The quality, quantity and employment of ICT facilities for Urdu medium schools is also an issue in the modern era. The curriculum, standards, pedagogy, appointment of teachers, maintenance of roster etc. are important issues to be discussed in this area. The present paper makes an attempt to look into various issues problems and prospectus of education of minorities through Urdu.