Muslim Education

The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) will be setting up five campuses in various regions of the country. These would come up at Bhopal, Calicut, Katihar (Bihar), Pune, and Murshidabad (West Bengal). The Human Resource Ministry of the Union government has sanctioned permission for the five regional extension centres in order to cater to the education of the Muslim minority. It has earmarked a sum of Rs. 4,000 crore for the new campuses during the 11th five-year plan. The AMU is a Central University as per its constitution and elects a Vice Chancellor every five years through its Court, a representative body of prominent Muslims and its alumni.

The University now sees itself as a catalyst in promoting education among the Muslim minority. The University was so far mainly admitting students from educationally backward states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. This was owing particularly to its geographical location in Aligarh. But under its new role, it has set up admission centres in Kolkata, Calicut, Bhopal and Pune and will be adding Lucknow and Hyderabad from the 2009 academic session. The current Vice Chancellor Dr. Abdul Azis has initiated several measures to enforce strict discipline in the campus which saw some unruly incidents in recent years. He is casting the net wide to recruit better talents and the University has begun advertising vacancies for teachers in non-Urdu and non-English media too.

The MAO College was upgraded into the Aligarh Muslim University in 1921 and became a Central University after Independence. Its campus on the northern side of the city of Aligarh has now 22 faculties, several institutes of higher learning and several edifices reflecting the Islamic architecture of India. Around one-third of the total 30,000 students are non-Muslims. The University has produced luminaries such as singer Talat Mahmood, film dialogue writer Dr. Rahi Masoom Raza, song writer Shaharyar, writer Qurratulain Hyder, Historian Irfan Habib, Geographer Mohammed Shafi and zoologist Shamim Jairajpuri, Dr. Manzoor Alam, to name a few. AMU’s history department has won universal laurels while its engineering college is all likely to be given an IIT status shortly.

Advent of Vice Chancellor Dr. Abdul Azis, a Keralite raised a few heckles in the academic community. A disciplinarian Dr. Azis has enforced a strict code of discipline for teachers to remain on their seats between 8 am and 4 pm. University estates are being streamlined and land mafia is being weeded out. Files are cleared speedily. No condonation of lack of attendance for students too has bruised a few egos. Last year, some goons set aflame the Vice Chancellor’s lodge.

Dr. Azis, who was previously Vice Chancellor of Cochin University is a marine biologist holding a Ph.D and D.Sc in Aquatic Biology. At the helms in Aligarh for the last 21 months, he is the first non-Urdu speaking VC of the University. He spoke to Maqbool Ahmed Siraj. Excerpts:

Q: How do you look at AMU’s standing among academic institutions today?

A: The Aligarh Muslim University enjoys a fairly good standing among the universities in the nation. It is on 9th position among 300 Indian universities in matters of research publications. The AMU’s engineering college figures on 7th position for funding during 10th Plan by Prof. Joshi and has been recommended for upgradation on par with the IITs. PURSE, a rating of centres for excellence in science and technology, has recognized our engineering college too as a centre of excellence. Our History Department is recognized as the most prestigious centre of excellence in the country since 1968. Even Arabic Department is considered a centre of excellence.

Q: AMU seems to have developed an ambitious plan to expand beyond its campus? Would it be in conformity with its Constitution which makes it a residential and Central University?

A: The AMU stands out among central universities. The AMU Act recognises that it was established by Muslims of India and it carries a minority character along with secular character. The AMU Act as amended in 1981 reshaped its jurisdiction under clause 5(2)C which makes it mandatory for the University to promote educational and cultural advancement of Muslims in India. It could not be taken up during all these years. Now this historic initiative is being taken up. We will set up five extension centres in Calicut, Pune, Katihar (Bihar), Murshidabad (West Bengal) and Bhopal.

Q: Education being generally looked after by the State Governments and Muslim educational backwardness owing itself to deficiency at the primary level, do you think the AMU would be able to make a difference to the lot of school education?

A: The AMU, Banares Hindu University and the Jamia Millia Islamiah at Delhi are the only Central Universities in the country that are allowed to run schools. At least one-third of the students in the AMU currently study under eight high schools being run in Aligarh. The model will be replicated in all five extension centres. This will address the issue to some extent. But we may be able to run teachers’ training programme for Urdu medium schools at the extension centres.

Q: Any initiative to upgrade the general academic standards and environment of the University?
A: Several measures have been taken recently. I have placed an academic rejuvenation agenda to guide 500 doctorates. Under this, 500 theses have to be submitted every year. This year we could produce 320. Classroom attendance has been enhanced to 75 per cent as condition for appearance in exams. Every teacher is being asked to produce at least one research paper. Nearly 1,000 papers have been submitted this year by teachers. 500 teachers will be required to bring research projects each worth Rs. 20 lakh every year from overseas. We have signed MoUs with universities like Georgia, Georgia Tech, Wisconsin, Youngstown Town University and several others. A diploma course is being introduced on Islamic Banking and Finance from next year.