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Mumbai: With his government professing its commitment to improving the lot of Muslims in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Monday issued directives to officials to sum up teaching staff strength in Urdu schools.
Baba Siddiqui, who was among state lawmakers from the minority community who called on Deshmukh at a meeting on "Developmental Schemes for Minorities", raised the issue of fewer teachers in government-run Urdu schools as compared to Marathi-medium schools.
"There is one teacher for every 30 students in Marathi schools whilst Urdu schools have to manage with one teacher for 50 students," Siddiqui said.
If the government took cognisance of the deficit, it would translate into jobs for around 2,000-3,000 teachers, he pointed out.
New department
Deshmukh said his government was stringently implementing recommendations of the Sachar Committee, a study on the status of Muslims in India, and trying to remove educational backwardness among the minorities, especially Muslims in Maharashtra. A new Department for Minorities has been set up in Mantralaya, the state headquarters.
Meanwhile, a special six-member committee, led by former vice-chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University, Dr Mahmoodur Rahman, set up by the government also said in its interim report submitted in June that several Muslim-majority areas were lacking in adequate number of schools, with conditions in most of the institutions below par.
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