INTRODUCTION:

1.1.National Policy on Education (NPE) has adopted the concept of national system of education, implying that up to a certain level all students irrespective of caste, creed, language or sex have access to education of comparable quality. The Policy lays special emphasis on removal of disparities and equalizing educational opportunities by attending to the specific needs of those who have remained educationally backward so far. Suitable incentives therefore, have to be provided to educationally backward sections of the society. For more information please visit at http://mhrd.gov.in/qualityeducationinmadarsa

2. The National Policy on Education commits itself to provide all possible means for the uplift of the educationally backward minorities. The children of the educationally backward muslim minorities attend Maktabs/Madrassas/Darul- Ulooms with very little participation in the national mainstream education system. These institutions provide by and large, religious teaching. In order to provide them with access to education in modern subjects, the Central Government has been implementing the Area Intensive and Madrassa Modernisation Scheme. The scheme as implemented during the X Plan had two components, namely infrastructure support for educational institutions catering to educationally backward population and introduction of modern subjects in traditional institutions of Madrassas.

3. The National Monitoring Committee for Minorities Education (NMCME) was constituted in 2004 to look into all aspects of education of minorities and suggest ways and means to improve the conditions for educational empowerment of minorities and visited several states and interacted with the leaders of the Muslim minority community, educationists and Madrassa Managements. An Expert Committee of the NMCME was constituted to give inputs for revising the programme of modernization of Madrassas and submitted its report. The Expert Committee has suggested that madrassas be provided a linkage with the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) to provide for certification of academic levels, linkages with vocational education, improving the quality of education in modern subjects, introduced teacher training, enhancement of teacher salaries, strengthening of State Madarssa Boards for monitoring and raising awareness about education programmes for the Muslim community.

4. The scheme for providing quality education in madarssas has been recast after taking into account the inputs of the Expert Committee of NMCME.

BUDGET PROVISIONS :

5. An amount of Rs. 325 crore is proposed for the scheme as per budget provision made by Planning Commission in the XIth Five Year Plan.

OBJECTIVES

6(i) The objective of the Scheme is to encourage traditional institutions like Madarasas and Maktabs by giving financial assistance to introduce science, mathematics, social studies, Hindi and English in their curriculum so that academic proficiency for classes I-XII is attainable for children studying in these institutions. However, the process of modernization of traditional Madrassas and Maktabs will be voluntary.

(ii) The scheme will provide opportunities to students of these institutions to acquire education comparable to the National Education System especially for secondary and senior secondary levels. This will enable children studying in these institutions to progress to higher levels of learning and also open up better job opportunities for them. Maktaba/Madrassas/Dar-ul-Ulooms can opt to become accredited study centres with the National Institutions of Open Schooling (NIOS) for primary and middle levels of education or/and for secondary and senior secondary levels as well. Assistance would be given to Maktabs, Madarasas and Dar-ul-Uloom for activities, which contribute to these objectives.

( iii) The scheme also will seek to provide opportunities for vocational training for children studying in madarasas opting for assistance above 14 years of age, to enhance their opportunities for entering the job market and encourage entrepreneurship.

(iv) The scheme will also strengthen State Madrassa Boards opting for assistance, by enabling them to monitor the madrassa modernization programme and enhance awareness about education among the muslim community.

(v). The scheme will address in-service training of teachers appointed under the scheme, for teaching modern subjects of science, mathematics, social studies, Hindi and English, to improve their pedagogical skills.

COVERAGE :

7. The SQPEM is a demand driven scheme. The Scheme will endeavour to cover a total of 4,500-6,000 Madrassas and provide honorarium to about 13,500- 18,000 teachers in Madrassas all over the country during the 11th Plan period. This will include Madrassas for which recurring grant will be given in continuation
and the new Madrassas covered. It is expected that a total of about 7 lakh students of Madrassas will pursue modern education in addition to their traditional education.

COMPONENTS & FINANCIAL PATTERN:

8. Financial assistance to Maktabs/Madrassas/Dar-ul-ulooms will cover the following items: -

a) For appointment of teachers for teaching Science, Mahtematics, Social Studies, Languages, Computer Application and Science, subject to availability of a minimum of ten students in each subject, each full time Graduate teacher will be paid salary for 12 months @ Rs.6000/-p.m. and post Graduate/B.Ed. Rs. 12000/- p.m. State Governments/Madrassa Boards would ensure that larger Madrassas with higher student enrolment recruit better qualified teachers.

b) For strengthening the libraries/book banks and providing teaching learning materials at primary/middle/Secondary and senior secondary levels, one time assistance upto Rs.50,000/-followed by an annual grant of Rs.5000/- will be provided to each Madrassa.

c) For purchase of Science kits, Maths kits, and other essential pedagogical equipment for teaching modern subjects a grant upto a maximum amount of Rs.15000/- will be provided.

d) Financial assistance will also be provided for establishment of Science/Computer Labs/work shops in Madrassas at the Secondary/Senior Secondary levels upto the a maximum of Rs.100000 for each of the labs followed by an annual grant of Rs.5000 for maintenance/purchase of consumables.

e) Financial assistance will be provided for conducting in service teacher raining programmes for the teachers appointed under the scheme in madrassas to upgrade their pedagogical skills. Training will be arranged in groups by SCERTs/DIETs/BRCs etc. and the funds for this purpose will be provided to the training institution through the State Government. Rs. 100/- per day per teacher trainee for a maximum of 15 days training, will be paid to the training institution to cover training expenses and TA/DA of the trainee teacher.

f) Financial assistance will be provided to meet registration fees, examination fees and cost of study materials supplied by the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) upto 100% for each student opting for study through NIOS at secondary and senior secondary level.

g) Madrassas can also opt for vocational courses offered by NIOS after fulfilling norms & standards set by NIOS. The registration fees would be met from the scheme as in above(f) . There will be linkages of madrassas with industry, ITIs set up by the Ministry of Labour and Employment etc. which are in the vicinity, for use of workshops and for promoting employment opportunities.

h) Financial assistance will be provided to State Madrassa Boards opting for assistance, to strengthen their capacity to monitor the SPQEM, by providing recurring financial assistance of Rs. 5.0 lakhs per year for each Madrassa Board. The assistance will be for appointment of qualified & competent staff; computerization of office; office equipments; research & evaluation; and awareness generation amongst the muslim community for participation in education.

i) For purposes of publicity, monitoring & evaluation of the scheme at the level of Government of India, a recurring grant upto a limit of Rs. 50 lakh per year, will be provided.

ELIGIBILITY CONDITIONS :

9. Madrassas which have been in existence atleast for three years and registered under Central or State Government Acts or Madrassa Board or with Wakf Boards or NIOS shall be eligible to apply for assistance under this programme.

10. All Madrassas opting to be covered by distance education mode and availing of government grant will need to be accredited with the NIOS. Madrassas applying for financial assistance under the scheme to the State Government would have to provide documentary evidence of their affiliation/accreditation to the State Madrassa Boards/NIOS. The Madrassa would for this purpose send an application for accreditation/affiliation to NIOS. Once the Madrassa has been accredited by the NIOS, as study centers the NIOS shall take thereafter, all necessary steps for conducting the academic activities of the study centres in such Madrassas.

11. Training will be arranged in groups for madrassa teachers appointed under the scheme by SCERTs/DIETs/BRCs and the funds for this purpose will be provided to the training institutions through the State Government. Submission of certificate for successful completion of training duly signed by the representative of the training institution will need to be maintained by the State Government and furnished to the Central Grant-in-aid Committee annually.

12. Madrassas with respect to whom expenditure on account of honorarium of the teachers is met by the State Government will not be eligible for salary component under the scheme. However, such Madrassas will be eligible for financial assistance under other components of the scheme.

13. Madrassas receiving financial assistance for teacher training, text books, computers, science/maths kits etc. from any other State/Central Scheme will not be eligible for that component under this scheme.

PATTERN OF FUNDING AND OTHER CONDITIONS:

14. The Central Government will provide 100% funding for the scheme during the 11th Plan.

15. The financial assistance will be given yearly under the scheme through the State Governments/Union Territory Administrations in whose jurisdiction the institution is situated.

16. Funds will be provided as per the norms of the scheme. Allocations under the scheme are to be regarded as outer limits and actual releases should be in accordance with actual beneficiaries. The Madrassas /State Madrassa Boards receiving assistance would be required to furnish audited expenditure certificate in the format prescribed, duly certified by the audit officer.

17. The grant will be admissible to only those organizations/institutions that submit updated and certified statement of accounts showing each component separately, for the grant-in-aid received in the previous year. No claim for recurring grants will be admissible if such claim is not made within one year of the previous grant.

18. The records of accounts and activities of the organization will, on demand, be made available for inspection by Central/State Government. 19. State Government and grantee institutions shall submit annual progress reports and utilisation certificates and they shall be open to financial scrutiny and audit by the Central Government, Controller General of Accounts (CGA) or Comptroller & Auditor General or their nominee.

20. The Central Government shall inspect the grantee institutions at any time whenever such an inspection is considered necessary.

IMPLEMENTATION AND MONITORING:

21 The following procedures will be adopted:

i) The scheme will be implemented by the State Governments. All requests for financial assistance shall, as a rule, be entertained by the State Government in the prescribed Application Form at Annexure, Part I (Format I to IV) is for madrassas, Part-III for (Format-VI) for State Madrassa Boards seeking assistance under the scheme The State Government shall forward their recommendations to the Govt. of India in Part-II (Format V) for madrassas and in para-8 of Part-III In respect of State Madrassa Boards seeking assistance under the scheme..

ii) To scrutinize and recommend the proposal under the scheme, the States/UTs shall constitute a State level Grant-in-Aid Committee under the chairmanship of the Secretary of the relevant Department and include a nominee of MHRD on it.

iii) On receipt of proposals from the State Government, the Grant-in-Aid Committee setup in the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India will consider the same on merit and accord approval.

iv) The Central Grant-in-Aid Committee will have the following composition: Secretary, Department of SE&L, Chairman, Joint Secretary, Department of SE&L, Member Secretary, Financial Advisor MHRD, One/Two representatives from Madrassas Education Management/Boards, one eminent educationist, representatives of the Ministry of Home Affairs (Policy & Planning), the Ministry of Minority Affairs and the State Government concerned whose proposals are listed in the agenda.

v) The Government of India and the State Government/UT administration will monitor and evaluate the scheme. The feed back on the number of students appearing in National Open School and qualitative improvement in their achievements will be collected by the State Govt./UT Administration/Madrassa Board and placed before the Central Grant-in-Aid Committee. The Central Grantin- aid Committee will organize reviews & evaluations on the progress of the scheme as appropriate. An independent & in-depth evaluation of the scheme will be conducted after two years of implementation.