Tuesday September 20, 2011 11:47:03 AM, Anil Sharma, IANS

Barmer: When villagers see these two young sisters, Fatima and Jainab, teaching at a madrassa in this small village of Rajasthan's Barmer district, they hardly believe it. Only a handful of men can boast of being educated in this village on the western extreme of the country.

Despite being women from a minority community, these two have not only completed 'Aaleema', a religious course considered equivalent to anything from Class 12 to graduation, but also work to the aim of bringing about 100 percent literacy among girls in the area!

As a result, they teach at least 100 girls these days in a madrassa of Kharchi village, around 550 km from state capital Jaipur. They want every girl here to complete Aaleema like them.

"Literacy rate among Muslim girls is very low in our area. Our father had a rare dream that daughters become graduates. It did not matter to him that we were girls. So he sent us to Jamnagar in Gujarat for getting education," the older Jainab told IANS.

The average literacy rate of Barmer in 2011 was 57.49 percent. Genderwise, male literacy was 72.32 percent and female 41.03.

"After completing Aaleema, we thought we should share our knowledge with others who are not as lucky as we were. So we started contacting illiterate girls and requested them to join the local madrassa," said Jainab.

Fatima says that they went from door to door to spread awareness. "The parents here are hardly willing to send girls to school, but they were somehow convinced. Now girls from far-off places come to study," she said.

"The course is more on the religious side, but we have made sure that modern education is provided to the girls. So the girls are being taught computers also," she added.

Two girls, Shaharbano and Latifa, come from Junejon ki Basti village to study. The fact that their place is 60 km away has not kept them from pursuing their dream of completing
Aaleema.

"I am determined to pursue studies till am able I get this Aaleema," said Shaharbano, who is about 16 years old.

(Anil Sharma can be contacted at anil.s@ians.in)


 

Home | Top of the Page

Top Stories

Quake claims 42 lives in India, landslides hit rescue work

By Monday at least 42 people had perished across north and east India in the powerful earthquake that originated at its border with Nepal   »

Quakes in India: A chronology

Quake jolts several parts of Maharashtra

Quake kills six, injures over 100 in north Bengal

  Most Read

The Bombay High Court Monday stayed the allotment of Haj quota to private tour operators till Sep 23 and sought a reply from the central government on the issue, a lawyer said.The division   »

Despite grand show, few takers for Modi as future PM

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi might be eyeing the big seat with his three-day 'sadhbhavna' fast that ended Monday, but there are few takers for the view that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader  »

Clerics appeal Hindus, Muslims to seek divine punishment for Modi

  News Pick

On third anniversary of the Batla house encounter September 19, hundreds of people including civil rights activists, students and residents of Delhi, participated in a protest march from  »

Hit by housing row, Karnataka Lokayukta quits

A retired judge of the Supreme Court, Patil took over Aug 3 from another former apex court judge N. Santosh Hegde, whose explosive report on illegal mining  »

Hurt Lokayukta cautions media against 'malicious campaign'

Should communal violence bill be recast?

Should the draft bill on communal violence be recast to obviate fears that it will encroach on the rights of states? Analysts differ on the specifics of the draft  »

Communal Violence Bill: Let the dogs bark as the caravan goes

Picture of the Day

The 27th of Ramadan (August 26, 2011 this year), "Laylet al-Qadr" (Night of Power), is one of the holiest nights of the Islamic calendar, the night when the Quran began to be revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him). Millions from around the world visit the Grand Mosque in Makkah from all over the world and pray over the night.