Survey of Urdu Medium Schools

Karnataka has 5,612 Government Urdu Medium schools. The Survey would reveal the current status of learning, teachers’ training and infrastructure.

Bengaluru: The Directorate of Urdu and Other Minority Language Schools under Department of Public Instructions’ will conduct a survey of Urdu medium schools in Karnataka.
The Department has constituted a committee of representatives of the Urdu-speaking community with several education experts to lay down the terms of reference and objectives of the survey. At its first meeting on December 9 at the Department under the chairmanship of Commissioner of Public Instructions Mr. Mohamed Mohsin, the committee decided that the services of a professional research agency be hired to conduct a sample survey. The survey will be completed within six months. Broadly, the survey would assess the current status of Urdu medium schools, infrastructure, teaching-learning process and community participation. It would also track the children who have studied in Urdu medium schools and their present status and take feedback from them. The survey would also go into the issue of teachers’ training and would suggest policies for their improvement.
The State of Karnataka has 365 Government Urdu medium High Schools and a similar number of Government-aided High Schools. (Most of the Urdu-medium High Schools are in districts of northern Karnataka, areas that were earlier part of Bombay-Karnataka and Hyderabad – Karnataka. The number of Government Urdu Medium Higher Primary Schools (i.e., 6th and 7th standard) is 21 while another 365 Higher Primary Schools are Government-aided. However, the Government Lower Primary Schools (LPS, First standard till fourth standard) number around 4,475 and the Government-aided Urdu Lower Primary Schools are 21. Largest number of Government Urdu Medium High Schools are in Belgaum i.e., 54 while a similar number of High Schools are Government-aided in the same district. Bijapur district has the largest number of LPS i.e., 453. Bengaluru North and South educational districts, Mysuru and Dakshin Kannada (i.e., Mangaluru) district have no Urdu medium High Schools. Altogether, there are 5612 Government Urdu Medium Schools in the State.
The Committee has the following members: Dr. A. M. Pathan, Chairman; Ms. Zohra Jabeen, Director, Directorate of Urdu and Other Minority Languages under Department of Public Instructions; Mr. Ubaidullah, former DDPI; Syed Khalandar, Bengaluru; Wg. Cdr. Mahmood Khan, social activist; Rafi Bhandari, journalist, Bijapur; M. A. Siraj, journalist, Bengaluru; B. Z. Gulshad, social activist; Prof. Shabbir Mahmood Mustafa, academician, Mysuru; Mr. Abdul Qadeer, Kalaburgi; Mr. S. N. Khazi, Gadag; Mr. Basheer Ahmed Pathan, Dharwad; Mr. C. R. Mod. Imtiyaz, Chitradurga; and Mr. Syed Ahmed Kaladgi, Bagalkote. Ms. Vaijyanthi of the Akshara Foundation, which conducted a survey of the 171 Urdu medium schools in Bengaluru city in 2008, (the survey highlights were carried by Islamic Voice in 2012) was also present at the meeting. A core committee of the representatives will meet every fortnight to oversee the progress of the survey.