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Muslim Education, some light in current situation:
Counseling holds the Key
By M. A. Siraj
It is heartening to know that the Mercy Mission would be taking up task of providing scholarships to students in need of financial assistance. Although a lot of organizations are already doing this, there is limitless scope for more to be done with further zeal, insight and strength.
Education is a vast field and number of issues need to be borne in mind. Financial assistance to those who are keen to pursue education and do well in life and be a good and contributing citizen of the nation is just one. Hundreds of young people carry dreams in their eyes, expecting much from their lives. But they remain dreams, never to materialize. Financial crunch scotches all hopes and smothers their drive and enthusiasm.
In Ramazan 2018, a woman had knocked at our doors. Bulky, clad in an old-styled burqa, she came and sat for a while. Behind her walked her son who had brought her driving their autorickshaw. The woman handed over Rs. 10,000, telling us her son (I would just provide his initial ‘AB’) has sent this money to our Trust (namely Talent Promotion Trust). She said our Trust had provided AB Rs. 10,000 annually for four years to pursue his BE. He is now working in Zurich (Switzerland). I didn’t remember the boy. Nor had she come with her son while receiving the scholarship cheques. The auto driver was her elder son. She said, this boy had passed his PUC II with 80% marks, had got a CET ranking for an engineering seat in a reasonably good college. But ‘our financial status did now allow him to pursue his life’s dream’. The auto made him the breadwinner of the family and helped his younger brother to take up what remained undone by him. Financial assistance is, therefore, the primary need to help the youth realize their ambitions.
A few years ago, a girl had arrived with a 10K cheque for the Trust. She was an old recipient of Trust scholarship. Query led to the revelation that she is working with L&T on an annual pay-packet of Rs. 6 lakh. She said she had over 93% marks and had been allotted a seat both in MBBS and BE. But during our counseling session, we had told her to opt for BE, which she did in RVCE (Kengeri) and got a placement in the L&T in the first round itself. Why did we dissuade her from MBBS? Her family circumstances were forcing her to be an earning member in the shortest possible time. An MBBS course would have required nearly six years. Her father was into gambling at the Bangalore Turf Club and mother was eking out a measly livelihood through tailoring, a job in which household women are (monetarily) exploited by contractors of garment factories. She had listened to our advice, shelved off her dream to be a doctor, and ten years thereafter was supporting her mother. Two years later she invited us for her marriage and hopefully may be a mother by now. She acknowledged that our advice was pragmatic and helped her lend stability to the family economy.
Two years ago, a girl with 94% marks had got admission in BDS in a city college with an annual fee of Rs. 2.75 lakh. Her elder brother was already studying in BE and was a recipient of our scholarship. There was yet another boy from the family in high school. Father was a salesman and his annual emoluments totaled less than the fee required for the Dental course (although she had promise of Arivu loan of Rs. 50K). We advised her mother against putting her into the Dental course as it would push the family into debt. We persuaded her to try for courses available in the University of Agriculture or to enroll for B.Sc Maths or BA English Literature. She was hell-bent on her choice. The family arranged the initial fee of Rs. one lakh and secured the seat as well as the Arivu money. She is now stuck in the first year, unable to take her exam for non-payment of the remaining part of the fee. The Dental College would not return her marks card and TC etc for her to opt out of the course midstream and seek admission elsewhere. They demand that the student cough up the full fee for the first year and then find the exit. The family is now looking for a good alliance for the girl.
One-to-one counseling is essential for the youth. In mass counseling sessions, one could talk about colleges, courses and careers in general. But in personal counseling the youth could be advised according to their personal circumstances, their leanings and proclivities.
Same holds true for the choice of colleges. Students are en masse heading for private colleges. Several groups of educational institutions have PU colleges and high schools. They compel the students to take admissions in their own colleges and withhold their marks cards and TC. Let us be reminded about the superabundance of colleges and schools in Bangalore, a district with the highest number of colleges in India i.e., 950, as per records of Higher Education Council. The managements are worried about seats falling vacant and incurring decline in profits. Muslim girls are particular wary of going to colleges where their friends from schools would not enroll. Parents from families where children are first-generation learners, are generally unaware of the fee structure in various colleges. Currently, private PU colleges charge between Rs. 30 K to 100K a year. Several of them employ part-timers and have no accountability towards students. A student complained that chemistry lecturer changed nine times in an academic year in a private PU college in Jayanagar.
There are less expensive and better alternatives. The counselor should be one who should know about the colleges, their managements and fee structures. For instance, the Govt PU College and the Govt First Grade College at 18th cross in Malleswaram is one of the best colleges in the city. The fee for courses like BCA, BBA, B.Com is less than Rs. 8K. We started sending boys there. At least a dozen boys who studied their PU there, have found seats in BE under CET quota. One even got a seat in a Govt Medical College. Same could be said about the Govt PU Girls College in Malleswaram 13th cross. VHD Home Science College (opposite Maharani’s) is also a Govt-aided college. A lady lecturer sent us word that the college offers high grade facilities and has courses such as Fashion Designing and Nutrition but students were averse to enrolling, all because it was stigmatized as Govt-aided. On our persuasion several girls have graduated out of the college. Even Maharani’s offers courses at rock bottom fee structure.
(more soon, Inshaallah)
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Feedback at maqsiraj@gmail.com
Source: received through whatsapp message.