District-level vocational courses needed for minority students

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

“There is a need to start district-level vocational courses as per the students' skills in New Education Policy (NEP). The ratio of Muslim students is very less in Engineering, medical and other fields,” said Amitabh Kundu, a scholar and former dean of Jawaharlal Nehru University.

He was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the two-day '13th All India Educational Conference' on 'Education for Sustainable Development: Building an Inclusive India’ organised at Tapadiya Natyamandir jointly by the All India Educational Movement (AIEM) and the Federation of All Maharashtra Minority Education Organisation (FAME) on Saturday.

MP Dr Fauzia Khan, former journalist and MP Kumar Ketkar, MP Imtiaz Jaleel, former vice-chancellor (VC) of Nagpur University S N Pathan and former Pro-VC Dr Khwaja Shahid were seated on the dais.

Amitabh Kundu said that parents of minority students on the line parents of other communities spend an equal amount on primary and secondary education.

Giving reference to the Central Government’s survey conducted in 2017-18, he said that there is a big gap in the higher education ratio of minority students and other community students. Amitabh Kundu said that there are various reasons for the causes of minority students' drop-out ratio.

“Nearly 25 per cent of Muslim students do not have money for education, so, they discontinue education on the basis of their condition. There is a need to take measures to bring them into the mainstream of education,” he said.

Former VC S N Pathan said that there should be some ideals before students.

MP Imtiaz Jaleel said that the Sachar Committee was established due to Amitabh Kundu. “Despite this report, Muslims did not get reservations until today. The expense of medication education is Rs 20 lakh for a student while Maulana Azad Minorities Finance Corporation provides a loan of just Rs 5 lakh. Conference convener Khalid Saifuddin conducted the proceedings of the programme while Shaikh Zahoor proposed a vote of thanks. Abdul Rashid, Dr Ilyas Saifi and others were present

A total of four technical sessions were held at Maulana Azad Research Centre on early childhood education to higher, technical and professional education.’

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Valedictory ceremony

Dr Fazal Ghafoor (president, Muslim Education Society, Kerala) will deliver the valedictory address while MLC and Wakfs Board chairman Dr Wajahat Mirza, Akramul Jabba Khan (retired IRS office) Dr Syed Zafar Mahmood, Tarique Azam (Malaysia) and Shameem Tarique (Mumbai) will grace the valedictory ceremony.