Aspirations among Muslim Girls Abdul Shaban Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Deonar, Mumbai

Introduction A revolution is underway in Muslim community with regard to girls’ education. Higher share of Muslim girls are now enrolled in schools than boys. However, education in Urdu medium, which is weakly linked with state and market, significantly affects the aspirations among the girls. A substantial proportion of students from the community are found with ‘not clear or no aspirations’. This may further compromise the socio-economic prospect of the community which is already at the margin.

Aspirations Aspirations determined by many factors: Parents’s education and occupation, income of the family, level and type of education by individual, community level aspirations Poverty, lack of appropriate education and alienation of the community has compromised aspirations among students. The personal interviews and group discussion with youth (both boys and girls) often evokes silence rather response on the issue. The communal politics and narrative generated on Muslims have in one way or other affected the psyche of the Muslim community and specifically younger generation as many worry more about their survival, constitutional rights than aspirations. It is also that living at lower strata of the society also affects the clarity of aspirations.

Maharashtra – Aspirations in Girls Of the total 2,734 Muslims girls interviewed, 62.0% had no clear aspirations while 9.3% have ‘no aspirations’ Total 71.3% of Muslim girls in the state do not have clarity about who they want to be in future Teaching job is traditionally preferred for girls by families, The aspirations for call centre/BPO employee also point out to the fact that not all the girls are in traditional clutches of the patriarchy As against the girls, 62.4% of male students (54.6% with no clear aspiration and 7.8% with ‘no aspiration’) have no clarity who they want to be the remaining Muslim girls and boys (especially Muslim girls) have very modest aspirations

Top 3 aspirations among Muslim girls and boys in Maharashtra The top three aspirations of the Muslim girl students in Maharashtra: Secondary school teacher (7.6% of the girls), Call centre/Business Process Out Sourcing (BPO) employee (6.6%), primary school teacher (2.8%) The top three aspirations of the Muslim boys ‘engineer’ (9.9% of boys), call centre/BPO employee (5.1%), and civil servants (4.6%)

Dismal Scenario Aspiration is first step of a successful future. As a large proportion of Muslim students from both genders do not show any aspirations, it does not augur well for the future of community, which is already socio-economically marginalised.

Muslim girl students by medium of education and aspirations in Maharashtra, 2009 Urdu Hindi English Marathi Total Not clear/ do not know 63.7 54.7 44.6 63.1 62.0 No aspiration 10.1 12.0 11.5 8.4 9.3 Secondary school teacher 6.9 3.4 8.3 7.6 Call centre & BPO employee 6.4 2.5 7.4 6.6 Primary school teacher 3.1 2.6 3.8 2.8 Nurse 1.2 10.3 0.6 2.7 2.4 Engineers 1.8 1.9 2.2 Doctor 1.1  0.0 5.1 1.5 Civil services 6.8 1.3 Clerk/ supervisor 1.6 0.5 1.0 Software Engineer 0.4 0.9 3.2 Others 8.9 2.0 100.0 No. of students 900 117 157 1549 2734 significantly higher proportion of girls in English medium schools have clarity about who they want to be as against those in Urdu, Marathi and Hindi medium schools. aspirations of girls studying in English medium schools is more diverse and significantly higher proportion of them aspire for jobs in non-traditional sector like software engineering, civil services, engineering, and medical profession

Urdu and its survival strategy and Employment opportunity Pai, (2002) is of the opinion “…market forces also have an impact on the development of a language, a fact seen all over the world”. Shaban (2015) writes: “Urdu in Maharashtra has not been linked to employment opportunities by the government. Most of the state-conducted competitive examinations are in Marathi and English. This shuts the door for Urdu students for larger job opportunities”

Muslim girl students by household per capita income (Rs Muslim girl students by household per capita income (Rs.) and aspiration, 2009 (%) Aspirations 250 & below 251 to 350 351 to 500 501 to 700 701 to 1000 1001 to 2000 2001 to 5000 5001 to 10000 10001 & above Total Not clear/ do not know 69.1 70.4 64.6 57.4 56.6 48.7 48.8 44.4 33.3 62.0 No aspiration 11.9 8.4 7.1 9.0 10.9 12.1 14.6   9.3 Secondary school teacher 3.4 4.4 7.7 11.6 9.5 2.4 11.1 7.6 Call centre & BPO employee 8.2 10.1 6.8 5.0 3.1 4.7 6.6 Primary school teacher .6 1.5 2.9 3.6 5.6 2.8 Nurse 2.3 1.0 2.7 5.2 .9 Engineers .5 2.2 4.9 Doctor .8 1.7 7.3 Civil services 1.1 1.9 1.3 Clerk/ supervisor .7 .4 Software engineer .2 Others 1.2 6.5 0.0 2.5 100.0 English medium school and colleges going students mainly came from those households which are having relatively better income A direct relationship between per capita income of families and clarity in aspirations of girl students: with rise in per capita income the share of girl students with ‘not clear/do not know’ aspirations declines

Educational level and aspiration among girls (%) Aspirations Below primary   Primary Middle Secondary Higher secondary Graduate and above Total Not clear/ do not know 67.7 64.4 63.9 57.1 42.1 20.0 62.0 No aspiration 8.4 9.3 9.8 9.7 9.4 8.9 Secondary school teacher 5.6 6.8 6.2 10.9 15.7 17.8 7.6 Call centre & BPO employee 5.4 6.4 7.8 5.0 7.5 13.3 6.6 Primary school teacher 3.4 2.3 1.7 2.8 Nurse 2.4 3.0 1.9 1.3 2.2 Engineers 2.1 1.6 Civil services 1.5 1.4 .9 1.1 3.1 Doctor 0.7 0.8 3.3 2.5 6.7 Clerk/ Supervisor 0.6 1.2  0.0 1.0 Software engineer 0.2 0.1 0.3 4.4 0 .6 Others 2.7 100.0 The share of girls stating ‘not clear/ do not know’ aspiration declines with increase in educational level. where 67.7% of the girl students state ‘not clear/ do not know’ aspiration at below primary level, the share declines to 57.1% at secondary school level and only to 20.0% at graduation level. Data presented in the Table show that aspirations among students become clearer and diversified secondary level onwards.

Summing Up