The following piece was conceptualized and written by the Project Team of the 'Quality Improvement in Madrasahs' Project. The team comprising Babita, Soma, Saurabhi, Shyamalima and Aparajeeta visited one of the Madrasahs in thier project called the 'Talpukur Ara High Madrasah'. Here they had proposed to carry out a series of interviews and classroom observations in order to reaffirm their problematic on Gender inequity in Madrasahs. However, in course of their study, they saw a lot of their preconceived ideas and notions being exploded that set them to rethink their assumptions. What they find instead in the Madrasahs, how they revised their hypothesis and what they feel about their experience is captured in their write up...
Talpukur Ara High Madrasah–
Talpukur Ara High Madrasah
Madrasah Board Examination
No. of Boys appeared: 12
No. of Girls appeared: 21
The above information compelled us to change our objective of visiting Talpukur Ara High Madrasah. We, a team of 5, went to this Madrasah to capture the scenario of girls’ education in a co-educational Madrasah. Before commencing the study we assumed that the girls are somewhat neglected in a conservative community. As we were climbing the staircase and walking through the narrow corridors leading to the classroom we discussed amongst ourselves that the ratio of male: female teacher of this school (10:1) is strengthening our belief regarding girls’ education.
Keeping all these things in mind we purposefully chose to observe the class of a male and a female teacher seperately. Likewise we divided into two groups and went to class VII and VIII. As we expected in both the classes we found that the children were divided in two groups, the boys were sitting on one side and the girls were sitting on the other. Though the attendance of the girls was much higher than the boys and there was enough space in the classroom yet the girls were seated in a congested way in a single row. In class VII the female teacher was reading a text from Bengali in an almost inaudible voice. She continued to sit in her chair and the children sitting at the back benches were not following the lesson and whispering among themselves. She raised questions and answered them herself without giving the children a chance to think about the questions. The picture was same in Class VIII where the male teacher was teaching a History lesson. He first read the lesson and then wrote the questions and answers all by himself on the blackboard. Only the girls were copying the question answers from the blackboard. In both the cases the teachers had no eye contact with the children and were not addressing the children by their names. While walking through the corridor we peeped into a class where a teacher was teaching Arabic. Here a girl student was distributing the copies of the girls and the teacher himself was distributing the copies of boys. Later he went from child to child asking questions and punishing incorrect answers by hitting the children on their palms with the duster.
Five of us gathered in the corridor and had a discussion regarding the attendance of the classes that we observed. Surprisingly we found that the attendance of the children is very low. Less than half of the enrolled children were present on that Wednesday. The attendance of the girls was higher than that of the boys. We spoke to the teachers as well as the children to find the reason behind this. We came to know that Wednesday is the day when the local bourse where the weekly garment traders buy and sale their materials.
“We cannot afford to attend the school on Wednesday. We have to help our father in trade so that we get a good price of the labour that we have put in during the rest of the week” said Rabi ul Haq of Class V.
At that moment a question arose in our mind. Can we find any pattern in the attendance of the students of the school? We decided to collect the data on attendance and were a little taken aback to find that the percentage of enrolment of the boys had
decreased from Class V to VIII. We also found that in Class V the percentage of boys (45.0%) passing in the Annual examination was 10% less than that of girls (54.9%)whereas in Class VIII the percentage of boys passing Annual examination decreased to half (33.3% ) when compared to that of girls (66.6%). Observing the data we thought that the condition of girls’ in this Madrasah was better than that of the boys. We conversed with the girls and the boys and came to know that even though the girls do better in the Madrasah Board Examination yet they are unable to go to the Higher Secondary school which is a mere kilometer away because their parents fear for their safety and are reluctant to send their girls for higher education. The parents feel that it is safe to marry their girl child after they have completed their secondary examination. They think that by marrying them off they become free from the responsibility.
Afsana Khatun of Class IX said, “I want to study further but my father says that it is of no use because eventually I have to get married and look after my family”.
The parents’ fear for the safety of the girls also echoed in the voice of Mamuni Khatun of Class IX who said “We feel very harassed on our way to school because the young boys of this area are constantly passing comments while we walk down the street”.
When we interviewed the teachers we found that this matter of safety for the girls’ was also a concern area for them. “We have separate events for boys and girls. During the sports meet girls are not allowed to participate in the outdoor events. They are not even allowed to go to watch the outdoor games,” said Sharmila Mondol, Assistant Teacher.
The final bell rang. The students came pouring out of the school gate and ran through the narrow lanes which was lined on both sides with small, dingy shops piled with bales of thread and fabric. We came out of Talpukur Ara High Madrasah. As we walked we saw the houses closely stacked together. Piles of garbage stacked here and there and open drainage system by the side of the narrow lanes created obstacles in our way. After walking for about 15 minutes or so at last we came out on the main road. The picture by the side of the road clearly reveals that this area i.e. Metiaburuz is not only a centre for trade of readymade garments but also it is the only livelihood for most of the people residing here.
We boarded on a car and moved towards our destination. We all were very silent. A lot of questions were swarming in our minds. In Madrasah Quality Improvement Project we are working in 10 Laboratory Madrasahs where the primary areas of intervention have been the development of remedial teaching strategies and materials, teacher development, changes in school culture and environment and we have completed nearly 2 years in those Madrasahs. Talpukur Ara High Madrasah is one of them. The 10 Madrasahs are located in different areas with different socio-economic and cultural background. Whether a uniform academic strategy for quality improvement can bring the desired changes? Without understanding the need of the community, the school, the teachers as well as the students can we intervene in the quality aspect of the Madrasah? If so, will it sustain at all?
Talpukur Ara High Madrasah
Madrasah Board Examination
No. of Boys appeared: 12
No. of Girls appeared: 21
The above information compelled us to change our objective of visiting Talpukur Ara High Madrasah. We, a team of 5, went to this Madrasah to capture the scenario of girls’ education in a co-educational Madrasah. Before commencing the study we assumed that the girls are somewhat neglected in a conservative community. As we were climbing the staircase and walking through the narrow corridors leading to the classroom we discussed amongst ourselves that the ratio of male: female teacher of this school (10:1) is strengthening our belief regarding girls’ education.
Keeping all these things in mind we purposefully chose to observe the class of a male and a female teacher seperately. Likewise we divided into two groups and went to class VII and VIII. As we expected in both the classes we found that the children were divided in two groups, the boys were sitting on one side and the girls were sitting on the other. Though the attendance of the girls was much higher than the boys and there was enough space in the classroom yet the girls were seated in a congested way in a single row. In class VII the female teacher was reading a text from Bengali in an almost inaudible voice. She continued to sit in her chair and the children sitting at the back benches were not following the lesson and whispering among themselves. She raised questions and answered them herself without giving the children a chance to think about the questions. The picture was same in Class VIII where the male teacher was teaching a History lesson. He first read the lesson and then wrote the questions and answers all by himself on the blackboard. Only the girls were copying the question answers from the blackboard. In both the cases the teachers had no eye contact with the children and were not addressing the children by their names. While walking through the corridor we peeped into a class where a teacher was teaching Arabic. Here a girl student was distributing the copies of the girls and the teacher himself was distributing the copies of boys. Later he went from child to child asking questions and punishing incorrect answers by hitting the children on their palms with the duster.
Five of us gathered in the corridor and had a discussion regarding the attendance of the classes that we observed. Surprisingly we found that the attendance of the children is very low. Less than half of the enrolled children were present on that Wednesday. The attendance of the girls was higher than that of the boys. We spoke to the teachers as well as the children to find the reason behind this. We came to know that Wednesday is the day when the local bourse where the weekly garment traders buy and sale their materials.
“We cannot afford to attend the school on Wednesday. We have to help our father in trade so that we get a good price of the labour that we have put in during the rest of the week” said Rabi ul Haq of Class V.
At that moment a question arose in our mind. Can we find any pattern in the attendance of the students of the school? We decided to collect the data on attendance and were a little taken aback to find that the percentage of enrolment of the boys had
decreased from Class V to VIII. We also found that in Class V the percentage of boys (45.0%) passing in the Annual examination was 10% less than that of girls (54.9%)whereas in Class VIII the percentage of boys passing Annual examination decreased to half (33.3% ) when compared to that of girls (66.6%). Observing the data we thought that the condition of girls’ in this Madrasah was better than that of the boys. We conversed with the girls and the boys and came to know that even though the girls do better in the Madrasah Board Examination yet they are unable to go to the Higher Secondary school which is a mere kilometer away because their parents fear for their safety and are reluctant to send their girls for higher education. The parents feel that it is safe to marry their girl child after they have completed their secondary examination. They think that by marrying them off they become free from the responsibility.
Afsana Khatun of Class IX said, “I want to study further but my father says that it is of no use because eventually I have to get married and look after my family”.
The parents’ fear for the safety of the girls also echoed in the voice of Mamuni Khatun of Class IX who said “We feel very harassed on our way to school because the young boys of this area are constantly passing comments while we walk down the street”.
When we interviewed the teachers we found that this matter of safety for the girls’ was also a concern area for them. “We have separate events for boys and girls. During the sports meet girls are not allowed to participate in the outdoor events. They are not even allowed to go to watch the outdoor games,” said Sharmila Mondol, Assistant Teacher.
The final bell rang. The students came pouring out of the school gate and ran through the narrow lanes which was lined on both sides with small, dingy shops piled with bales of thread and fabric. We came out of Talpukur Ara High Madrasah. As we walked we saw the houses closely stacked together. Piles of garbage stacked here and there and open drainage system by the side of the narrow lanes created obstacles in our way. After walking for about 15 minutes or so at last we came out on the main road. The picture by the side of the road clearly reveals that this area i.e. Metiaburuz is not only a centre for trade of readymade garments but also it is the only livelihood for most of the people residing here.
We boarded on a car and moved towards our destination. We all were very silent. A lot of questions were swarming in our minds. In Madrasah Quality Improvement Project we are working in 10 Laboratory Madrasahs where the primary areas of intervention have been the development of remedial teaching strategies and materials, teacher development, changes in school culture and environment and we have completed nearly 2 years in those Madrasahs. Talpukur Ara High Madrasah is one of them. The 10 Madrasahs are located in different areas with different socio-economic and cultural background. Whether a uniform academic strategy for quality improvement can bring the desired changes? Without understanding the need of the community, the school, the teachers as well as the students can we intervene in the quality aspect of the Madrasah? If so, will it sustain at all?
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