Educational Experiences and Aspiration of Muslim Women in India: Issue and Challenges

Abstract

The Indian Constitution is devoted to citizen equality and the state’s responsibility to defend, safeguard and ensure minorities’ rights in matters of language, religion and culture. The rewards of every growth process have been evenly distributed among all religious communities. Muslims, who make up the largest minority group in the nation and account for 14.2% of the total population, are particularly behind in terms of the majority of human development indices. Despite the fact that Muslims often feel underprivileged, there has not been a systematic attempt since the country’s independence to examine the situation of its religious minority. The first attempt to describe situations in the community using extensive empirical data is the report of the high-level committee on the social, economic and educational status of Muslims in India, popularly known as the Sachar Committee. It offers the framework for a well-informed discussion about Muslim situations from an equitable perspective. The present study has tried to find out the major problems faced by women who wish to pursue education at school and at higher education institutions. Overall, the major finding of the study revealed that Muslim women have faced a double disadvantage in terms of accessing educational institutions, low educational attainment and low educational quality.