Educational Problems of Muslims in India

Education gives you wings! If you want to fly high in 21st century you must be highly educated and this applies to individuals as well as to all communities. Though the overall literacy rate of India has improved over past few years , its largest minority is still struggling to make its presence felt in the educational field. Here I try to find out various reasons for educational backwardness of Muslims in India and the role played by the State and the community to improve the level of education among Muslims . One chapter is dedicated to educational status and problems of Muslim women in India and it mainly deals with various constraints faced by them to get educated. I have made an attempt to clear all misinterpretation of Islam as a rigid and conservative religion and have showed how Quran teaches Muslims to seek education and treat girls as equals. In the last chapter I have discussed about the declining conditions of Urdu medium schools and madrasas , unavailability of urdu textbooks and high dropout rates among Muslims. And lastly I have concluded this paper with possible solutions and efforts expected from both, the State and the Muslim community.