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CHAPTER IV
DIFFERENTIALS IN LEVELS OF
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND EMPLOYMENT AMONG THE SOCIO-
RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES
191
Kerala leads all other states in educational attainment and there has
been further and significant improvement at the beginning of the 21st
century. Considering together completion of secondary education and
possession of a university degree as parameters, more than a quarter (27.1
per cent) of all Keralites and 32 per cent of all above the age of fifteen are
qualified.
This chapter focuses on the differentials in levels of educational
achievement amongst Kerala’s Socio-Religious Communities. The
availability of data on educational attainment by different religious groups,
perhaps the first time since Independence has enabled the researcher to
examine the temporal trends in educational achievements.
The population of Kerala is inconsistently scattered throughout the
state and is fairly well advanced in its demographic transition. Most of
Kerala’s 31.8 million people are of Malayalee ethnicity. Malayalees in turn
number among southern India's Dravidian community. Additional
ancestries derive from several centuries of contact with foreign lands,
whereby thousands of people of Arab, Jewish, Portuguese, Dutch, British,
and other non-Dravidian ethnicities settled in Kerala. Many of these
immigrants intermarried with native Malayalees1. Nevertheless,
Malayalam is Kerala's official language and is spoken by at least 96 per
cent of Keralites; the next most common language being Tamil, spoken
mainly by inhabitants in the border areas and also people from Tamil
Nadu, working mainly in plantations. Tulu and Kannada are spoken in
some parts of the northern districts of Kasaragod, adjoining Karnataka. In
addition, Kerala is home to 321,000 indigenous tribal Adivasis (1.10per
cent of the populace).2 About 63per cent of Adivasis reside in the eastern
districts of Wayanad (where 35.82per cent are Adivasi), Palakkad
(11.05per cent), and Idukki (15.66per cent). These groups, including the
Irulars, Kurumbars, and Mudugars, speak their own native languages and
experience hardships such as racial discrimination, economic exploitation,
and poverty. They have been isolated from all sorts of educational
activities such as literacy campaigns, special educational drives and so on.
Contact with the Cholanaikkan tribe was made in the Silent Valley
National Park only in the 1970s and they are the most isolated tribe. There
were 64,008 Konkani speakers in Kerala in 1991.3
The demographic pattern of Kerala spreads out in varied
proportions. Hinduism, Islam and Christianity are the three major religions
in the State. According to the Census of India 20014, the population of
Scheduled Caste is 31, 23,941 which constitutes 9.81 per cent of the total
193
population and they possess 82.66 per cent of literacy. The Scheduled
Tribes make up 3, 64,189 which is 1.14 per cent of the total population in
the State, their literacy rate is registered as 64.35 per cent.5
Though there are differences of opinion about Kerala's Muslims,
regarding the precise date of the advent of Islam in Kerala, it is fairly
believed that the Muslims have become a distinct community in this part of
the country by the end of the 7th
century of the Christian era. Today, they
form roughly a quarter of the state's population – which constitutes 24.7
per cent of the total populace – and are among the most literate Muslims in
India. The State comprises 208 castes which are listed as Other Backward
Castes and 28 as depressed Backward Classes.6 The Muslims are the most
rampant single backward community in the state, though the authority
often undermines its virtuosity.
However, at this moment in time, Kerala is one of the most
advanced states in the Indian Union in terms of socio-educational
development. The so-called Kerala Model Development is synonymous
with the specimen of sustainable development across the world. It is
mentioned in Amartya Sen’s studies too.7 Kerala’s cent percent literacy
and decentralized administration is extensively flashed out as a landmark
in the measurement of national development. In fact, all these articulations
have to be experienced as and when the disparity is evident among the
different communities. Nonetheless, the backward communities in the state
which constitute around seventy five percentage, are facing considerable
injustice, inequality, and social discrimination in various fields. This study
reviewed their educational status in comparison to that of other forward
communities in the State. It is mainly because of the backwardness of the
community in education.
As it has been pointed out in the preceding chapter, in the early
period of the nineteenth century, the educational and literary status of the
backward communities, particularly, Muslims was lagging far behind.
Either they had little access to any sort of modern educational amenities or
kept themselves away from modern education. The literacy rate of
Muslims in Malabar in 1817 was 2.7 per cent, whereas the Christians
marked 13.8 per cent while the Hindus possessed 5.4 percent.8 It slightly
improved in the succeeding years in the case of Muslims in Malabar. In
1915, out of every thousand Mappilas in Malabar, 945 were illiterate.9 In
Cochin, there were 54492 Muslims in total and only 7per cent of them
were literate. The female literacy in Cochin was 0.6 per cent.10
But the
plight of the Muslims in Travancore was somewhat more progressive.
According to the 1901 Census report of India, in the beginning of the 20th
195
c. the literacy rate of Muslims in Travancore was 8.6 per cent of total
Muslims 190566, out of which the females was only one for every
hundred.11
Trivandrum, the head quarter of the erstwhile princely state of
Travancore had no Muslim educational institutions even in the first
decades of unified State of Kerala. The administrators of Travancore were
mostly autocrats, and as such they paid little heed to the genuine
grievances of the people. The entire administration was really in the hands
of Diwans and Palace Coterie. Nepotism, bribery and immortality were the
order of the day. Natives were seldom appointed in important higher posts
in government service.12
It resulted in the formulation of concentrated
methods of agitations in such manner as Malayali Memorial, Ezhava
Memorial and so on.
The early initiatives for modern education in the State were taken
by Muslim reformers in the first decades of the Twentieth century, such as
Vakkom Moulavi, H.B. Muhammad Rawther, Sayyid M. Bava and many
other likeminded people which could not be materialized in the form of
educational institutions. At the Muslim Conference held at Aryasala Hall
in Thiruvananthapuram in August, 1921, Moulavi reiterated the
significance in the community, of modern education13
. This also proved to
be a futile attempt towards that cause.
By the enforcement of the State Reunification Act of 1957, a
number of Commissions were appointed to study the socio-educational
backwardness of the Muslims and other backward communities in the
State. Though such Commissions and Committees have pointed out the
flagrant disproportions in the Community, no concrete steps have been
taken to restore them so far. According to the Narendran commission
Report of 2001, there are only 46,500 Muslims in Kerala out of 4,70,275
employees as on 01.08.2000 and it constitutes 9.88 per cent of total
government employment.14
The Commission asserted that it was lower
than the quota reservation earmarked by the PSC of Kerala. This under
representation in government service is, by and large, mainly because of
their educational backwardness.15
Frontline magazine reports that among
the Backward Classes, according to the commission’s finding the Ezhavas,
the most socially and educationally advanced, have universally secured
better representation, by securing posts in the merit quota over and above
the reservation quota. But in comparison the Muslims, another major
Backward Class community, "have not fared well".16
The commission,
however, says that the main reason for this "is nothing but educational
197
backwardness" and pointed out that Muslims as well as other Backward
Class communities can emulate the example of Ezhavas "if they pay more
attention to the education of their children….."17
Though the Muslims
constitute one-fourth of the state population, their participation in
government employment is only 9.88per cent - which is much less than the
representation of SCs and STs in government service.18
In the wake of
these facts, one has to assume that the acute inadequacy of Muslim
representation, in spite of the availability of quota reservation for them, is
due to the two important reasons.
1. The former is deliberate violations of rules by the recruiting and
appointing authorities.
2. And the latter is backwardness and the lack of awareness to realize
the role of employment in government services.
To measure differentials in attainments at various levels of
education and employment between Muslims and other Socio-Religious
Communities the following indicators have been used.
Table 4.1
Share of Employment of Muslims and other Communities in Kerala
200119
Total Muslims SC/ST Ezhava Forward
Population 24.7 10/95 20.40 23.5
Representation 9.88 13.13 21.32 38.98
Excess/ shortage -14.82 +2.08 +1.08 +15.48
Even with the benefit of 12 per cent quota reservation (10per cent in
Last Grade), representation of Muslims in government service has
diminished to 9.88 percent; it is not quite substantiative in proportion to
their population. Meanwhile, the Ezhavas, another rampant backward
class, enjoying 14per cent quota reservation, with a lesser population than
Muslims, have secured 21.32per cent of government jobs.
At the same time the forward communities comprising 23.5per cent
of the state population have availed of 38per cent government jobs.
Schedule Castes and Scheduled Tribes of Kerala constitute 10.95per cent
of the state population. They gained representation in employment of
13.13per cent i.e. more than the proportion relative to their population.20
In addition to the government sector, the lower representation of Muslims
is invariably continuing in aided sectors of educational institutions. In the
case of arts and science aided colleges in Trivandrum district the staff
pattern as well as the number of the colleges is quite surprising.
199
Table 4.2
Specifics of teaching staff in the aided colleges, Trivandrum21
and
Muslim Representation
Sl.
No. Name of colleges
Total No.
of teachers Muslims
Others
(Christian+ Nair
+ Ezhava)
1. All Saints College 48 1 48
2. Christian College,
Kattakada 104 0 104
3. Iqbal College,
Peringamala 29 13 16
4. Loyola College of
Social Sciences 13 0 13
5. M.G College 85 0 85
6.
Mannania College
of Arts &
Science, Pangode
17 9 8
7. Mar Ivanios
College 75 0 75
8. N.S.S College for
Women 63 0 63
9. S.N College,
Chempazhanthy 63 0 63
10. S.N College,
Varkala 48 0 48
11. St. Xavior’s
College 46 0 46
12. V.T.M.N.S.S
College 57 0 57
Total 645 23 622
Table 4.2 illustrates a total number of 12 aided colleges in
Trivandrum district, out of which five each are under Hindu and Christian
managements respectively, and the remaining 2 are under Muslim
management - Iqbal College started in 1964 and Mannaniya College in
1995. Except in these 2 Muslim colleges all the other 10 colleges have
been appointed the teaching staff from their own communities. Meanwhile,
more than fifty percent of teaching staff in the Muslim aided colleges
belong to other communities consisting of Hindus and Christians. The staff
pattern of Iqbal College, under Muslim management, covers more than
sixty percentage of non Muslims. It is seen that the same happens in almost
all Muslim aided colleges in the State.22
Only the Muslim community
portrays itself as secular by taking an anti community attitude. In fact, a
serious study is needed to analysis this paradox.
Moreover, the above table points to a broad perspective on issues
relating to the education of Muslims in Kerala. It shows that the
community is at a double disadvantage with low representation in
government service and no representation in the aided sector run by the
managements other than the Muslims. In some instances the relative share
for Muslims is lower than even the SCs who were victims of the long
standing caste system. Such relative deprivation calls for a significant
policy shift in the cognition of problems and devising corrective measures
as well as in the allocation of sources.
201
Table.4. 3
Details of aided Arts & Science Colleges in Kerala and
Muslim owned Colleges23
Sl.
No District Total Muslim
Others
(Christian +
Nair +
Ezhava)
1. Trivandrum 12 2 10
2. Kollam 12 1 11
3. Pathanamthitta 9 0 9
4. Alappuzha 12 1 11
5. Kottayam 20 0 20
6. Idukki 6 1 5
7. Ernakulam 21 2 19
8. Thrissur 17 1 16
9. Palakkad 7 1 6
10 Malappuram 9 7 2
11 Kozhikkod 8 2 6
12 Wayanad 4 1 3
13 Kannur 9 3 6
14 Kasargodu 2 0 2
Total 148 22 126
This table indicates a significant disproportion between the Muslims
and the other two religious groups in the State. Out of 148 aided Arts and
Science Colleges in Kerala, only 22 colleges are under Muslim
Management. The rest of the 126 colleges are owned by Christians and
Hindus. Among the Hindus - Nairs and Ezhavas are the two prominent
castes which own the lion’s share of the aided educational institutions in
this sphere. Since there are inadequate number of Muslim educational
institutions in the State, the community is left far behind in education.
Table. 4.4
Community wise enrollment of students in colleges in various district
of Kerala24
The data displayed in Table 4.4 unveils the enrollment of students
in higher education under government colleges in Kerala during 1988-89.
This period was very important as the higher education sector was
completely free from the self financing system until 1995. So the students
who were enrolled in higher education were either in the aided sector or
government. According to Table 4.4, the lowest number of Muslim
Sl.
No. District Total Muslim Christian Others
1. Trivandrum 28581 2556 6340 19685
2. Kollam 34605 4020 6406 24179
3. Pathanamthitta 18477 834 5242 12401
4. Alappuzha 53077 1967 33754 17356
5. Kottayam 4950 280 1903 2767
6. Idukki 26778 1810 9348 14620
7. Ernakulam 27213 1536 10382 15295
8. Thrissur 6592 536 4127 1929
9. Palakkad 12951 844 1014 11093
10. Malappuram 13420 5759 801 6860
11. Kozhikkod 20643 4287 2082 14274
12. Wayanad 2482 221 1084 1177
13. Kannur 16505 1573 1968 12964
14. Kasargodu 4094 426 235 3433
Total 270368 26469 84686 158033
203
student’s enrollment is seen in Kottayam and Kasaragod districts because
no aided college was available for the respective community.
Table. 4.5
Details of aided training colleges in Kerala25
No. District Total Muslim
Others
(Christian +
Nair +
Ezhava)
1. Trivandrum 2 0 2
2. Kollam 5 0 5
3. Pathanamthitta - - -
4. Alappuzha - - -
5. Kottayam 4 0 4
6. Idukki - - -
7. Ernakulam 2 0 2
8. Thrissur - - -
9. Palakkad 1 0 1
10. Malappuram - - -
11. Kozhikkod 1 1 0
12. Wayanad - - -
13. Kannur 2 2 0
14. Kasargodu - - -
Total 17 3 14
Table 5.5 indicates the total number of training colleges under aided
sector in the State. Once, the training colleges were the breeding centres
for teachers. Those were the days when it was considered that a person
who got admission in a training college could feel that he had already
become a teacher. There was not enough number of qualified teachers to
fill the vacancies in the schools. Large number of mere graduates and
under graduates with hardly any training were appointed in many schools.
There after they were deputed to complete the training through inservice
courses. Even in this sector, the position of Muslims was quite meager.
The following table shows the representation of Muslims in government
and aided sector schools.
Table 4.6
Details of Teachers in Government Schools26
Total
Schools
Teachers Male Per cent age Female Per cent age
12136 181000 74211 40.82 1,07,554 59.17
Muslims 19168 11907 22.77 7261 9.26
According to Table 4.6 the total number of schools in the
government as well as in the aided sector is 12136. Out of this the schools
run by Muslim managements are quite low. As a matter of fact, the
opportunities for the Muslim community in getting adequate number of
admission in training colleges were very limited.
The table from 4.1 to 4.6 indicates that the Muslim community
miserably failed to grab benefits in proportion to their population both in
education and employment. While the Christian community in Kerala
constitutes only one-fourth of the total population, they enjoy around forty
205
percent of educational facilities in the state. As aresult they could get hold
of the major share in government services and public life.
However, the present phenomenon of private unaided schools-
recognised and unrecognized (though it had been prevalent in Kerala in
large number prior to independence), which started only as recently as in
the early 1980s, constitutes a huge section of general education in the state.
Private unaided schools remain largely beyond the domain of government
control and regulation; in many instances they do not fall under any form
of public accountability at all. The Muslim representation at these
institutions is also very meager just like in the matter of government and
aided institutions. A Study Report carried out by A.A. Baby observes that
nearly 56 per cent of the teachers are Hindus, Christians and Muslims
accounting for nearly 39 per cent and 5 per cent respectively. Muslim
teachers are obviously less represented in the teaching community even
though this religious group accounts for more than 23 per cent of the state
population (Table 10.3).
However, if the unaided institutions are functioning in the state
without any state funding, their role as gateways of higher education is
pivotal. For instance the candidates who cleared the entrance examination
for securing admission to engineering and medicine from such institutions
are very high.
Table 4.8
Proportions of students who secure admission for Engineering and
Medicine courses from the three different streams of schools (in
percent) - 200727
Schools Engineering Medicine
Government 25 15
Private Aided 8 15
Recognised Un-aided 67 70
Securing admission for MBBS and Engineering was quite a hurdle
until the end of the 20th
century - just before the emergence of self-
financing professional colleges in the State. Only outstanding students
from reputed institutions could obtain admission for a long time. A
paradigm shift has been observed in this sphere due to the emergence of
self financing professional colleges. Competency to get admission has now
switched over to the financial capability of the parents to purchase it. After
the introduction of entrance examinations for these courses, coaching
centres started mushrooming in the every nook and corner of the state. The
candidates from rich families, aspiring to seek admission, could afford the
fees of such coaching centres. Many studies have indicated that students
coming out from government schools are quite incompetent to qualify in
207
the entrance examinations for Medical-Engineering admissions. Table 4.8.
is a sample surveys which shows the low proportion of the students who
secured medical-engineering admission from the Government schools as
compared to the unaided schools. Such indicators reiterate the fact that the
poor students who completed their secondary education from the
government schools do not qualify in the entrance examinations conducted
for professional courses. A little progress has been seen among Muslim
students in securing admission for professional courses only in the last
decades of the twentieth century or afterwards.
Table 4.7
Religion-wise distribution of sample teachers28
Religion wise Number of
Teachers (per cent)
Hindu 242 (55.89)
Muslim 23 (5.31)
Christian 168 (38.80)
Total 433 (100)
The total number of recognized CBSE and ICSE schools in the state
is 587 and 100 respectively. In addition to this, a huge number of
unrecognized schools in the same pattern would be more than five times
than it is recognized.
According to a study released by the Kerala Sasthra Sahitya
Parishad29
last year called Kerala Padanam ('Study of Kerala'), only 8.1
percent of Muslims are pursuing higher education as compared to 18.7
percent of Hindus. Comparative figures for Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes are 10.30 and 11.8 per cent respectively. As the study
notes, "Youth from the Muslim community lag behind in education, which
obviously affects their employment opportunities and abilities to get
government jobs."30
Recently, the number of Muslims securing admissions
for Engineering and Medicine courses in self financing institutions has
substantially increased in proportion to the emergence of new self-
financing institutions within the community because of the financial
attributes which became lenient to the aspirants. This change has occurred
because of various factors, of which primarily, the role of hardworking
gulf migrants who were determined to provide better education to their
children at any cost predominated. The second, a happy fall out of
economic reform, is a recent phenomenon, the liberal attitude of
nationalized banks to disburse educational loans to the public.
It is quite obvious that the differentials among the three major
religious communities in the State are somewhat unbridgeable. Inadequate
number of educational institutions owned by Muslim Managements in the
209
general and higher education sector has resulted in the community lagging
behind their counterparts. Meanwhile the community possesses a large
number of religious educational institutions across the length and breadth
of the State. The serious defect of this educational system is that scientific
and technical education has no importance at all. This accounts for the
backwardness of the community till independence, as compared to others,
particularly the Christians and the Nairs.
Taking up the statistics of educational institutions in the State, the
community does not have proper share of the total number of institutions
entitled to it in the aided as well as the private sector. As a matter of fact,
there is a general grievance which has come up for discussion among the
public as to why the community which accounts for one fourth of the total
revenue of the State does not receive what is due to it in terms of education
facilities. An employment in the Government sector is not only a means of
earning a constant and secure salary throughout life but also a participation
in the administration under a democratic government. Such notions though
generated late within the community, helped in establishing educational
institutions to garner adequate representation in government service.
End Notes
1 George, K. M., Western Influence on Malayalam Language and Literature,
p.2, ISBN 8126004134 Google book.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
4 Census Report of India, 2001.
5 Ibid.
6 Narendran Commission Report. 2001.
7 Amartya Sen, Education in Kerala’s Development: towards a new agenda,
New Delhi, 2001, p.5.
8 University of Calicut, A Research Project on Socio Educational Upliftment of
backward Classes in Malabar since inception of Calicut Univesity. 2002,
p.59.
9 Innes, C. A., Madras District Gazetteers, Madras, 1915, p. 284.
10 Census of India, 1901, XX, Part I, Cochin, pp. 93-101.
11 Census of India, 1901, Vol. XXVI, Travancore, p. 206.
12 Abdul Samad.M., Op.cit. pp. 56-57.
13 Vakkom Moulavi., Welcome Speech, Muslim Conference,
Thiruvanathapuram, August 1921.
14 Narendran Commission Report. 2001.
15 Narendran Commission Report. 2001.
16 The data in the report show that Muslim representation in the various
categories is in almost all cases below their reservation quota, the difference
being between 0.3 per cent and about 6 per cent in the four categories.
17 Krishnakumar ‘ Social Justice – Stir over a Report’, Frontline, Vol. 21, Issue
17 August 14 - 27, 2004.
18 Ibid.
211
19
Narendran Commission Report 2001.
20 A Socio-Economy Survey of Muslims in Kerala and India, published by
Forum for Faith and Fraternity, Cochin, 2006, p.34.
21 Annual diaries of the Colleges submitted to the University of Kerala, 2006 –
2007.
22 Directorate of Collegiate Education, Trivandrum.
23 Administrative report of D.C.E, Trivandrum, 02.06.2002.
24 Directorate of Collegiate Education, Trivandrum (Quoted Abdul Kareem P.,
Education and Socio-Economic Development, New Delhi, 1988, p. 31).
25 Ibid.
26 Quoted by Dr. C.K. Kareem in the Thangal Kunju Musaliar Birth Centenary
Volum, Kollam, 2000, p. 245.
27 Baby, A, A., A Report on Recognised Unaided Schools in Kerala 2008,
Thiruvannthapuram, 2008, p.60.
28 Ibid., p.64.
29 Kerala Padanam 2008., A Study Report prepared by Kerala Sastra Sahithya
Parishath, Kerala, 2009.
30 Ibid.
1