New Delhi, August 14
Attempts by the government to allow students of madrasas (religious schools) to enroll at a mainstream university seem to have come to a naught. Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) had, for the first time, announced in its prospectus that certificates of selected madrasas would be treated at par with the regular school leaving (class 12) diplomas starting from this academic session.
However, university records show not a single madrasa student has been able to clear JNU’s entrance examination for undergraduate courses. The fact that the test was conducted in English probably might have been the reason.
Sources close to JNU said the university held a common entrance test for all students seeking admission in the BA course, for which madrasa certificates were also deemed as valid.
JNU is the country’s first varsity other than Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University to have recognized certificates issued by madrasa for enrollment in undergraduate courses. The university prospectus lists 17 madrasas in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, whose students can sit for the entrance tests of undergraduate courses in foreign languages. The move came less than three years after the Justice Rajinder Sachar committee report that recommended “social and economic upliftment” of Muslims in India.
In the past students with madrasa certificates used a circuitous route to study at JNU. They first enrolled in the BA-I course in Arabic at Jamia Millia Islamia, which recognises madrasa certificates.They then moved to JNU for the second year BA course. Besides Arabic and Persian JNU runs undergraduate courses in other foreign languages also.
Former JNU Students Union president Dhananjay Tripathi said: “Rules need to be changed even if it was a case of just one student being placed at a disadvantage. The Sachar panel’s recommendations stated it was crucial for madrasa students to be brought into mainstream education”.
However, with no madrasa student clearing the JNU entrance test in English for undergraduate courses the efforts seem wasted.
