One of the major Islamic organizations in Kerala is the Jamaat-e Islami. Like the Sunnis and the Mujahids—the two other major Islamic groupings in Kerala (each of which is divided into competing factions)—the Kerala Jamaat has a vast network of part-time madrasas (corresponding to north Indian maktabs) and full-time Arabic Colleges (similar to senior madrasas or dar ul-ulums in north India that train would-be ulema). Says Muhammad Ali, secretary of the Majlis ul-Taleem il-Islami, the Kerala Jamaat’s Islamic education wing based in Calicut, ‘We run 21 Arabic Colleges across Kerala and some 200 madrasas. In addition, 73 regular schools, mostly English-medium institutions that are till the tenth grade level, are affiliated to the Majlis, with some 40,000 students, including several non-Muslims, on their rolls. Eighty per cent of their teachers are women, and more than half are non-Muslims. They are independently registered and are locally managed. We believe that both Islamic as well as modern education are necessary for Muslim children. The fees that they charge are low and, for most families, affordable.’
Unlike in the Urdu-Hindi belt, where would-be ulema often have no familiarity with modern subjects, the Arabic Colleges under the aegis of the Majlis require prospective students to have finished at least the tenth grade in regular school. Some of these Arabic Colleges are affiliated to government-run universities, and offer a regular BA course, with Islamic Studies as a subject along with other Arts subjects, while the rest are specialized Islamic institutions that offer the afzal ul-ulema degree but which also require their students to study English. Graduates of the former generally go on to do a degree in education and take up jobs as Arabic language teachers in government schools, Kerala being the only state in India where government schools offer Arabic as a subject. Several of them also seek jobs in the Gulf, as translators and office staff in business-houses and government offices. The specialized Islamic institutions aim at training professional ulema. Nine of the Majlis’ Arabic Colleges are specifically for women, while the rest are roughly equally divided between co-educational and men-only institutions.
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