An interesting experiment in Faizabad – The ‘Faizabad Literacy
Project’
Faizabad and Ayodhya, situated on
the bank of the river Ghaghra, are educationally backward districts
of U P. Large numbers of children do not go to schools here. They
work on petty jobs engaged by their own parents. Encountering misery
at large scale in these areas, three educational societies of
Faizabad, working in cohesion, conducted educational and economic
survey of Muslims in the urban and rural areas of Faizabad, in 1998.
The survey revealed in black and white what the management of
societies had already suspected. Illiteracy and poverty were
dominating the community completely, supporting and reinforcing each
other. The damage was being done at a furious pace, with an
intensity no outside enemy could match. Something was required to
be done, quickly and efficiently, to check this continuous slide.
At almost the same time, ‘American Federation
of Muslims of Indian Origin’ or AFMI, declared their
intention in its Annual Award Function at Aligarh, to help Indian
Muslims achieve a goal of 100% literacy within a span of 10 years.
Encouraged by the resolve, the Faizabad societies sent their survey
reports to them. With these reports, a suggestion was also forwarded
for establishing a network of ground level basic schools in Muslim
dominated rural areas. The idea was to form a backbone of the
movement for eradication of illiteracy. In some of these areas,
basic schools in the form of Madarsas did exist, providing the
basics of religious education but their pathetic condition was no
one’s secret.
The proposal suggested that people of the area
would be asked to provide space for these schools. Salaries and
remaining expenses of school would be met through the fees realized
from students, and educational expenses of the poor would be
realized through a Sponsorship Scheme that existed at the
society, Faiz-e-Aam.
AFMI agreed to the proposal with a condition.
It promised to provide the salary for two teachers per school, for
some initial years only. The schools were expected to become
self-sustaining after this period. The societies accepted the
challenge, and Faizabad Literacy Project was launched quietly,
without much fanfare, with the establishment of three primary
schools in 1999. The years ahead saw unprecedented success of the
project. Villagers and several other well-wishers of Muslim Umma
joined together in the movement. Donors emerged where no one was
prepared to talk about education. It awakened urge for education in
areas, which were totally virgin from this aspect. The Project
encountered some setbacks too, but the number of schools grew.
Now, within a span of five years, 24 schools
have been established, providing qualitative religious and modern
education to more than 4498 students in this region. These schools
do not discriminate between religious groups and large number of
Non-Muslim students and teachers are part of these schools. Teaching
of Holy Qur’an, Islamic Studies and Urdu language is compulsory for
Muslim students. On completion of basic education (class 5th),
the students complete the Nazira i.e. the recitation of the Holy
Qur’an, with some basic grounding in Maths, Science, Geography,
Hindi and English.
Numerous observers have found the schools ahead
in teaching standards than many other government or private schools
of the area. The movement has also demonstrated that intelligence is
not the hegemony of urban folk. The children in rural areas, victims
of the parent’s negligence and apathy, have been found to be equally
intelligent and hardworking.
The plan now is to expand this network of
schools affiliated with the three centers. A brief account of each
school is given ahead. It will be of interest to those who want to
help in this mission or start a similar educational effort in their
areas.
|