Dropout rate high among Muslims

97 pc dont make to school: Panel report

According to findings by Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC), the dropout rate is the highest among Muslim girls at the primary and middle levels, though enrolment in Delhi Madrasas is rather high.

The commission’s data reveals that almost 25 per cent of Muslim children aged between 6-14 have either never attended school or dropped out because of family pressure.

DMC chairman Safdar H Khan said that the financial and social constraints were forcing the Muslim girl child to sit at home.

The commission has proposed the idea of opening Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) in Muslim-dominated areas of the national capital to change the abysmal situation.

 “Muslims lead the dropout rates than most other minorities. After 7th and 10th standards, we see many children, especially girls, dropout of their respective schools. But still we laid the foundation of one of the ITI at Nand Nagri and another one shortly to set up at Welcome colony in Zaffarabad area of North-east Delhi,” said Khan adding land inspection in Okhla is also on and once it is finalised, the third ITI will come up there.

The institutes will offer one-to-three month training programmes and provide certificates for the same. Besides, different sets of training programmes for girls and boys will be offered in the ITIs.

Courses in beauty, skin care and hair, embroidery, stitching, IT, personality development, data operation, fashion designing and others will be specific to girls.

For boys there would be courses in electric equipment, mobile and automobile repairing, architecture and hospitality among others.

On an average, a Muslim child- especially a girl- goes to school only for three and a half years whereas the main years of schooling, which is supposed to be starting from the age of 7-16 years, is missed by the majority.

“We aim at resolving this issue by building institutes (ITIs) that specialise in specific areas and will help generate employment,” said Zeeshan Ahmed, Urdu translator at the DMC.