The principal inspiration behind establishing the Oxford Square was Prophet Mohammad’s saying that ‘the best among you is the one who learns or teaches’. Today, it is among the few educational institutions in India that exclusively cater to the needs of slum-dwellers, writes Sapna Srivastav

The founder of the Oxford Square has a unique philosophy: Charging money for imparting education is unethical. One must share one’s knowledge with others without remuneration. It is with this vision that in the last seven years of its existence, the Ox- 70 August 2014 / digitalLEARNING ford Square has not charged a single penny from any student. The school is financed by the founder president’s fam ily and friends.
Established in 2007 in Jamia Nagar in the heart of the national capital, this unique institution was set up by Syed Qaisar Mahmood, an Arabist, an ex-advisor in the Gulf and a former president of the students’ union of the Aligarh Muslim University. Before the institution came into being, hundreds of street children could be seen moving around in the Jamia Nagar area. Families living in slums were sending their children with containers to fetch water. The founder visited the cottages on March 24, 2007 and was shocked to find how the lack of adequate sanitation, scarcity of water, heaps of garbage on the roads and rampant poverty had made the slum-dwellers’ life miserable. To top it all, children never went to school.
The founder met the parents and encouraged them to send their children to The Oxford Square for free education. Today, the situation is different. From 46 students on March 25, 2007, the number of students has gone up to 675 in 2014, with 41 per cent of the total strength constituting of girls. In further impetus to promoting girls’ education, all the girls studying in classes VI, VIII and X have been provided with bicycles by the school. The school currently has classes I to XI, and the curriculum followed is that of the CBSE. Most class rooms are fitted with largesized television sets and air conditioners.
When asked about the challenges faced by the management while setting up the institution, the founder Syed Qaisar Mahmood begins with quoting Prophet Mohammad who spoke of ‘the limitless horizons of human potential that could take one to the celestial spheres’. In contrast, he says, “The community’s limited horizons of human potential are characterised by miracle-mongering, commercialisation of tombs and running after the dead for the fulfillment of one’s dreams and luxurious marriages.” He says the school has encouraged parents to shed all superstitions and send their children to the school for free education. The school today provides its students with summer and winter uniforms, textbooks, stationery and, above all, a highclass faculty- all free of cost.
The qualified faculty includes a number of foreigners. Jennifer Star, a Ph. D. in Education from Deakin University, Australia, teaches English language. Edward Harway, Manfred Lai and Peter, holders of top degrees from western universities, work hard to ensure that the students excel in English conversation. While Sapna Srivastav and Siddhartha Sankara Sahu, postgraduates in Mathematics, teach Arithmetic, Algebra and Geometry, Neetu Bhardwaj helps the students learn art, craft and Sanskrit. Mohammad Islam Sarvar and Mohammad Qassim help with learning Moral Science and Urdu, Annu Garg teaches grammar and Rao Masroor, a post-graduate in Hindi, teaches Hindi poetry and prose. The school’s Information Technology Laboratory has 13 sophisticated computers used to impart high-class IT education to the students of higher classes.

“The community’s limited horizons of human potential are characterised by miracle- mongering, commercialisation of tombs and running after the dead for the fulfillment of one’s dreams and luxurious marriages”

There are more ways that this school is unique. Since its inception, the founder has stressed upon admitting students who are the least talented and do not manage to get into any other school. The focus, therefore lies on developing and promoting talent in those who have been less privileged. The students here are not only provided with quality education but also encouraged to develop aspirations and are guided towards achieving these aspirations. All students of The Oxford Square are prepared from day one to appear in the All India Services Examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission. The institution helps students in all possible ways till they become IAS, IPS, IRS or IFS officers. From time to time, senior students are also offered counseling on a career in civil services.
There are eight subjects taught at the Oxford Square. The technical subjects include Mathematics, Social Sciences, Environmental Studies, General Knowledge and Moral Science. The languages taught are English, Hindi, Urdu, German, Sanskrit and Modern Arabic. However, the main emphasis is on learning the English language, the beautiful language of Shakespeare. All the 676 students of this school have to learn how to speak flawless Queen’s English.
When asked about the problems of education in our country, the school’s quintessential Chairman said: “India has a huge number of highly qualified teachers. But, for every teacher who wants to teach, there are a thousand students who do not want to learn. Students want that the school should not mind if they are late, disappear, do not do homework or disturb the class.” To counter this, the school follows a unique policy to ensure full attendance. The administrator Rakesh Kumar calls the parents at 5 a.m. asking them to wake the children up and send them to the school immediately. The Oxford Square is probably the only public school in India which opens at 6 a.m. every day. The first period is marked for sports where all students go out for jogging, cycling and physical exercises. The school provides the students with free sports equipment and tells them that they must not start their studies unless they have played soccer, cricket or badminton. The sports policy has reduced the level of drop out remarkably.

In the last eight decades since its inception in 1927, the Konkan Muslim Education Society has spread its sphere of operations from one Anglo-Urdu high school to several educational institutions, including G M Momin Women’s College in Bhiwandi. In an interaction with ENN, Aslam Fakih, President of the K M E Society says the government needs to create a better ecosystem for minority educational institutions to help build a better India. Excerpts from the interview

When was the G.M. Momin Women’s College, Bhiwandi established?

Rafiuddin Fakih, Mustafa Fakih, Murtuza Fakih, Najmuddin Fakih and Ghulam Mohammed Momin founded the college in July 1989. The founders had a noble vision to empower women by promoting higher education for Muslim girls through this Women’s College in Bhiwandi.

Explain the situation in Bhiwandi before your institution came into being?

Muslim Girls were not allowed to pursue higher education after completing their Higher Secondary certificate. The women’s college paved way for the first generation of graduate girls in many families in Bhiwandi.

What are the courses offered by Momin Women’s College?

We offer both under-graduate and post-graduate courses across different streams.

Has the student intake improved?

We started with 94 students in 1989. This year, 1409 students have enrolled in different courses.

Do you offer any incentives to students?

The G.M. Momin Women’s College offers the facility of paying fees in installments, scholarships for meritorious and needy students, book bank scheme and a scholar’s card in library. We also impart free courses in basic computers, Yoga, self-defence, value-added skill development and remedial classes.

Why is it that many minority institutions do not become popular or sought after?

Momin Women’s College is quite popular. Many institutions may be not popular on account of lack of quality and commitment. Others may be handicapped due to lack of funds.

What are the challenges faced in operating the college?

Fund-raising for infrastructure as per the growing demand, to get qualified faculty members and to get students enrolled in the initial stage of any programme are some of challenges. Also, the freedom to administer minority institutions is limited by the govern ment/university.

Are you able to attract good talent?

Though we earnestly wish to match industry standards, we are unable to do so due to lack of funds.

Do graduates from your institution find immediate placement?

Students have been placed in corporate and government sectors. TCS, Infosys and government organisations are some examples. Nevertheless, Muslim students face problems in going out to the corporate world to work as parents do not permit them. However, counseling of parents and conducting training sessions for students has helped change the mindset gradually.

Do you offer any career counseling services for students?

The career counseling and placement cells have been formed and they take care of career placements.

What are the efforts on digital learning front?

Students are guided for distant digital learning. Video conference benefits are available in our campus. Staff and students are also motivated to avail distant learning opportunities through IGNOU and various other distant modes.

Is your institution considering introducing skill development and vocational courses?

We have introduced courses in Fashion Designing, Computer Diploma, Language Development and Personality De- velopment.

“The women’s college has paved the way for the first generation of graduate girls in many families in Bhiwandi”

Have the Centre and state done enough to promote minority education?

We are not satisfied with the efforts taken either by the Centre or the state government so far. Several limitations and hurdles continue to burden the implementation of policies and schemes to reach the targeted beneficiaries.

What are your expectations from the new government?

Minority education institutions should be given government aid to conduct skill-oriented courses, especially for girls. Secondly, counselling programmes for parents and students should be aided by the government. Motivational guest lectures on various issues and solutions must be promoted and assisted by the government. Awareness programmes about distant learning mode should also be supported. Furthermore, policies and schemes should be liberalised for avail- ing benefits in due time to develop the institution. Finally, the allocation towards Higher & Technical education in the Union Budget in 2014-15 is insufficient (1.33 per cent only). I believe that there is an urgent need to review the budget.

What suggestions or grievances do you think need to be urgently looked into?

Incentives should be given for minority institutions which excel in quality to upgrade their infrastructure, even for the unaided programmes. Financial assistance for teachers’ in-service training programmes towards developing ICT skills should also be considered. Under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), industries need to come forward to collaborate with minority institutions and train students for varied skills, motivate teachers who adopt innovative methods of teaching and additional remuneration should be arranged for teachers who teach value-added courses. Authorities should also look into inordinate delays in payment of scholarships to minority students and poor implementation of minority welfare schemes.

Oasis International School, an educational initiative by a group of Muslim women in Bangalore, believes that imparting quality education will result in leaders guided by justice and informed by reason, writes Ayesha Masood

In any pluralistic society, a community’s survival depends not only on its ability to preserve its values, its religion, its identity, but also on its capacity to contribute to society as a whole. This is particularly true of a minority community like ours.
A cursory look reveals a fairly dismal picture of the state of the Muslim community in India and its overall standard of living. The only way out of this cycle of deprivation is to invest in the youth of our community by providing them an education of excellence and one which is based on high moral values.
Oasis International School strives towards excellence in all aspects of education by adopting a holistic and dynamic curriculum and providing an emotionally safe and a spiritually and morally invigorating environment to all learners, irrespective of their social status or religious leaning.

The Challenge

Graduates of religious educational institutions throughout the Muslim world are generally absorbed by mainly three service sectors. These include mosque-related services, Islamic mission (da’wah) and teaching in religious schools and universities. The Indian Constitution provides equal opportunities to all individuals, organisations and social groups.
However, the largest Indian minority is a victim of deprivation. There is an acute shortage of Muslim representation in government, legislature, education and policy-making organisations. The most serious challenge faced by Muslims is from within their community; primarily due to a near-total lack of objective understanding of their own situation. This is further compounded by several other factors which range from lack of leaders, growing disparity between rich and poor, a nearly 90 per cent school dropout rate, over 50 per cent living below poverty line and social evils tearing at the very moral fabric.
Unfortunately, the choices available are limited to missionary schools, Madrassas and government educational institutions. There are only a handful schools run and managed by the community which we can be proud of.

The Solution

We began small in 1999, with just a handful of students in a bungalow on a 5,000 sq ft of rented property. Vow- ing never to sacrifice on quality of curriculum, staff and infrastructure, the strength of the school soon grew by leaps and bounds with almost 100 students added in a year. This also indicated the need for such schools in the community.
In the first seven years, the school was run in 3 different rented houses, which was a very difficult task. Finally in the year 2006, with the help of soft loans from parents, we purchased 3 acre of land 15 km from town. The construction soon began based on state-of-the- art architectural plan drawn out by a renowned architect. In a span of 14 years now, Oasis has grown to over 1,125 students across Montessori to Grade 12. Almost 20 per cent of our students are supported by way of fees which is part of our policy of bridging the gap between children from affluent homes and those from under-privileged backgrounds.

“We provide our students with an environment that nurtures and develops a strong sense of self-identity among students through a pedagogy rooted equally in religious faith and critical enquiry”

Academic Excellence

At Oasis, we strongly postulate to have established a school of excellence, focussing on high academic standards and life-skill development in a student-centered environment. The school is affiliated to the University of Cambridge, following the IGCSE Syllabus. While the pre-school follows an enriched Montessori Programme inte grated with the international early-years curriculum, the primary school follows the Cambridge International Primary Programme (CIPP) of International Examinations. At the end of Cambridge Secondary 1, students sit through the Cambridge Checkpoint Tests, which provide a detailed feedback on students’ strengths and weak nesses. The Cambridge Secondary 2 (Higher Secondary) follows the IGCSE Curriculum. This programme is designed to give our students international mobility and provides subjects that are educationally sound and challenging. Due to the changing needs of our parents and students, we have established the CBSE curriculum in 11 th and 12 th grades.
Our infrastructure has today grown to a state-of-the-art building with labs, libraries and airy classrooms in 2 campuses. The smaller campus is in Bangalore which houses classes up to grade 2 while grades 3 to 12 are located in the 3-acre campus in the suburbs. We provide our students with an environment that nurtures and develops a strong sense of self-identity among students through a pedagogy rooted equally in religious faith and critical enquiry. Our students are outspoken and courageous with regard to social interactions on minor as well as major platforms, have done well in competitive examinations and are placed in reputed degree colleges.

From four schools in 1992 to 29 educational institutes, 1,100 teaching and 700 non-teaching staff with 27,000 students at the end of the 2013 academic year, it has been no ordinary journey for the Maharashtra Cosmopolitan Education Society (MCES)

Set up with the objective of providing education to the economically, educationally and socially weaker sections of society, the Ma- harashtra Cosmopolitan Education Society (MCES) today figures among the oldest educational organisations of Pune. It is an educational soci- ety registered under the Society’s Reg- istration Act of 1860 and also a Public Trust registered under the Bombay Pub- lic Trust Act 1950. It is also registered under section 12(a) of Income Tax Act 1961 and is exempted under Section 80G of the said Act by the Income Tax Commissioner, Pune.
Set in the scenic surroundings of Pune which provides a peaceful envi- ronment conducive to studying for the students, the society today boasts of an educational complex of higher, medical, technical and professional academic in- stitutions in the field of Arts, Animation and Multimedia, Science, Commerce, Computer Science, Law, Education, Pharmacy, Management Sciences, Architecture, Dental Sciences, Hospitality Studies, Information Technology etc. A total of 1,000 girls and 600 boys stay in two separate hostels inside the campus.
Over the years, the society has made tremendous progress in all fields – academics, sports, and extra-curricular activities. The infrastructure is laced with beautiful buildings, well-laid internal roads, a picturesque landscape, fully equipped laboratories, libraries with over 2,500 computers and furnished hostels for boys and girls. The Sports Complex and pavilion constructed in accordance with national standards is a recognised play area.
In keeping with the times, the MCES campus is equipped with several modern digital libraries and reading rooms, laboratories and smart classrooms. All the institutes are connected through 155 MBPS T-1 Internet line for faster and better e-communication. The entire 24-acre campus is Wi-Fi and safely guarded with 120 night vision cameras. The campus motto has always been to provide the students with the best facilities possible.
The society has made a record to implement Maharashtra State mandatory basic computer certificate (MS-CIT) for students of classes IV and V and dents more than 6,500 stuhave cleared the state level exam and achieved this recognised MS-CIT certificate. All members of the teaching staff and 75 per cent of the non-teaching staff, including class IV employees, have also cleared the MS-CIT.
The students too take maximum advantage of these facilities and have shown great results by participating in state and national level competitions and bringing laurels to their respective colleges and institutions. The moral and value education enhances the person- ality of the students and develops self confidence, self-respect and a positive attitude towards life.
Today, the MCES acts as a source of inspiration and a role model to follow for many educational institutions, not just in Maharashtra, but across India. Rightfully then, their progress and development have been duly lauded and recognised by the Government of India. The M.C.E.Society was awarded the first “Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Literacy Award” constituted by the Maulana Azad Education Foundation, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India for being one of the best minority educational campuses in India.