Maulana Azad National Urdu University offers to help mainstream madarsas

Jubilee Hills: Maulana Azad National Urdu University is keen to play a role in facilitating the mainstreaming of madarsas. The university also plans to provide MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) in Urdu thereby ensuring its access to Urdu population. Dr Mohammad Aslam Parvaiz, the Vice-Chancellor of MANUU expressed these views on Wednesday while inaugurating roundtable discussions on the draft National Education Policy (NEP), 2019.

Dr Parvaiz expressed satisfaction over the fact that MANUU succeeded in increasing the women enrolment ratio in recent years, which is one of the thrust areas of the draft policy. Reiterating the importance of mother tongue in education, he stressed the need to promote Urdu at school level to overcome the issues of not finding suitable candidates in the reserved categories. To make MANUU more inclusive, there is a need to introduce Urdu at schools. Moreover, madarsa graduates must be given a formal lateral entry opportunity at college or university level.

If MOOCs is not made available in Urdu then Urdu and its speakers will lag behind others in terms of education, Dr Parvaiz pointed out. Prof Ayub Khan, Pro Vice-Chancellor, chaired the inaugural session on 'Teacher Education with specific reference to Urdu speaking masses.' Education Policy shapes the future of the country. Draft policy shall be studied and comprehended thoroughly, he opined. Dr M A Sikandar, Registrar, while speaking on the proposed reforms, suggested to avoid over-regulation.

Earlier, Prof Mohd Shahid, convenor for session I, pointed out that MANUU was consulted in July 2015 too, when the process of NEP was initiated. MANUU had sent a detailed report to MHRD on bridging gender and social gap through the new policy.

Dr Afroz Alam, convenor of the second session, set the tone by raising serious doubts on implications of the policy. He described the NEP as a brilliant document which provides a lot of scope to doubt the intention. Prof V Sudhakar, chairman of the session, advised all to look at the new policy in its proper context. It should be read along with the other policies of the government. Prof G Ramesh, co-chair, welcomed the draft and said that it has given due importance to the question of teacher education. MANUU shall take the lead to implement it, especially with regard to madarsas.

Prof V Venkaiah chaired the third session on 'Optimal Learning Environment and Support for Students under Higher Education with specific reference to ODL student.' Prof P F Rahman, Director I/c, DDE, was the convener. Prof Venkaiah in his powerpoint presentation dealt with the nuances of ODL system and the impact of new policy on it. A large number of faculty members and eminent educationists participated in the discussions held at the Conference Hall, Administrative Building. (INN)