CHAPTER IV

DIFFERENTIALS IN LEVELS OF

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND EMPLOYMENT AMONG THE SOCIO-

RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES

191

Kerala leads all other states in educational attainment and there has

been further and significant improvement at the beginning of the 21st

century. Considering together completion of secondary education and

possession of a university degree as parameters, more than a quarter (27.1

per cent) of all Keralites and 32 per cent of all above the age of fifteen are

qualified.

This chapter focuses on the differentials in levels of educational

achievement amongst Kerala’s Socio-Religious Communities. The

availability of data on educational attainment by different religious groups,

perhaps the first time since Independence has enabled the researcher to

examine the temporal trends in educational achievements.

The population of Kerala is inconsistently scattered throughout the

state and is fairly well advanced in its demographic transition. Most of

Kerala’s 31.8 million people are of Malayalee ethnicity. Malayalees in turn

number among southern India's Dravidian community. Additional

ancestries derive from several centuries of contact with foreign lands,

whereby thousands of people of Arab, Jewish, Portuguese, Dutch, British,

and other non-Dravidian ethnicities settled in Kerala. Many of these

immigrants intermarried with native Malayalees1. Nevertheless,

Malayalam is Kerala's official language and is spoken by at least 96 per

cent of Keralites; the next most common language being Tamil, spoken

mainly by inhabitants in the border areas and also people from Tamil

Nadu, working mainly in plantations. Tulu and Kannada are spoken in

some parts of the northern districts of Kasaragod, adjoining Karnataka. In

addition, Kerala is home to 321,000 indigenous tribal Adivasis (1.10per

cent of the populace).2 About 63per cent of Adivasis reside in the eastern

districts of Wayanad (where 35.82per cent are Adivasi), Palakkad

(11.05per cent), and Idukki (15.66per cent). These groups, including the

Irulars, Kurumbars, and Mudugars, speak their own native languages and

experience hardships such as racial discrimination, economic exploitation,

and poverty. They have been isolated from all sorts of educational

activities such as literacy campaigns, special educational drives and so on.

Contact with the Cholanaikkan tribe was made in the Silent Valley

National Park only in the 1970s and they are the most isolated tribe. There

were 64,008 Konkani speakers in Kerala in 1991.3

The demographic pattern of Kerala spreads out in varied

proportions. Hinduism, Islam and Christianity are the three major religions

in the State. According to the Census of India 20014, the population of

Scheduled Caste is 31, 23,941 which constitutes 9.81 per cent of the total

193

population and they possess 82.66 per cent of literacy. The Scheduled

Tribes make up 3, 64,189 which is 1.14 per cent of the total population in

the State, their literacy rate is registered as 64.35 per cent.5

Though there are differences of opinion about Kerala's Muslims,

regarding the precise date of the advent of Islam in Kerala, it is fairly

believed that the Muslims have become a distinct community in this part of

the country by the end of the 7th

century of the Christian era. Today, they

form roughly a quarter of the state's population – which constitutes 24.7

per cent of the total populace – and are among the most literate Muslims in

India. The State comprises 208 castes which are listed as Other Backward

Castes and 28 as depressed Backward Classes.6 The Muslims are the most

rampant single backward community in the state, though the authority

often undermines its virtuosity.

However, at this moment in time, Kerala is one of the most

advanced states in the Indian Union in terms of socio-educational

development. The so-called Kerala Model Development is synonymous

with the specimen of sustainable development across the world. It is

mentioned in Amartya Sen’s studies too.7 Kerala’s cent percent literacy

and decentralized administration is extensively flashed out as a landmark

in the measurement of national development. In fact, all these articulations

have to be experienced as and when the disparity is evident among the

different communities. Nonetheless, the backward communities in the state

which constitute around seventy five percentage, are facing considerable

injustice, inequality, and social discrimination in various fields. This study

reviewed their educational status in comparison to that of other forward

communities in the State. It is mainly because of the backwardness of the

community in education.

As it has been pointed out in the preceding chapter, in the early

period of the nineteenth century, the educational and literary status of the

backward communities, particularly, Muslims was lagging far behind.

Either they had little access to any sort of modern educational amenities or

kept themselves away from modern education. The literacy rate of

Muslims in Malabar in 1817 was 2.7 per cent, whereas the Christians

marked 13.8 per cent while the Hindus possessed 5.4 percent.8 It slightly

improved in the succeeding years in the case of Muslims in Malabar. In

1915, out of every thousand Mappilas in Malabar, 945 were illiterate.9 In

Cochin, there were 54492 Muslims in total and only 7per cent of them

were literate. The female literacy in Cochin was 0.6 per cent.10

But the

plight of the Muslims in Travancore was somewhat more progressive.

According to the 1901 Census report of India, in the beginning of the 20th

195

c. the literacy rate of Muslims in Travancore was 8.6 per cent of total

Muslims 190566, out of which the females was only one for every

hundred.11

Trivandrum, the head quarter of the erstwhile princely state of

Travancore had no Muslim educational institutions even in the first

decades of unified State of Kerala. The administrators of Travancore were

mostly autocrats, and as such they paid little heed to the genuine

grievances of the people. The entire administration was really in the hands

of Diwans and Palace Coterie. Nepotism, bribery and immortality were the

order of the day. Natives were seldom appointed in important higher posts

in government service.12

It resulted in the formulation of concentrated

methods of agitations in such manner as Malayali Memorial, Ezhava

Memorial and so on.

The early initiatives for modern education in the State were taken

by Muslim reformers in the first decades of the Twentieth century, such as

Vakkom Moulavi, H.B. Muhammad Rawther, Sayyid M. Bava and many

other likeminded people which could not be materialized in the form of

educational institutions. At the Muslim Conference held at Aryasala Hall

in Thiruvananthapuram in August, 1921, Moulavi reiterated the

significance in the community, of modern education13

. This also proved to

be a futile attempt towards that cause.

By the enforcement of the State Reunification Act of 1957, a

number of Commissions were appointed to study the socio-educational

backwardness of the Muslims and other backward communities in the

State. Though such Commissions and Committees have pointed out the

flagrant disproportions in the Community, no concrete steps have been

taken to restore them so far. According to the Narendran commission

Report of 2001, there are only 46,500 Muslims in Kerala out of 4,70,275

employees as on 01.08.2000 and it constitutes 9.88 per cent of total

government employment.14

The Commission asserted that it was lower

than the quota reservation earmarked by the PSC of Kerala. This under

representation in government service is, by and large, mainly because of

their educational backwardness.15

Frontline magazine reports that among

the Backward Classes, according to the commission’s finding the Ezhavas,

the most socially and educationally advanced, have universally secured

better representation, by securing posts in the merit quota over and above

the reservation quota. But in comparison the Muslims, another major

Backward Class community, "have not fared well".16

The commission,

however, says that the main reason for this "is nothing but educational

197

backwardness" and pointed out that Muslims as well as other Backward

Class communities can emulate the example of Ezhavas "if they pay more

attention to the education of their children….."17

Though the Muslims

constitute one-fourth of the state population, their participation in

government employment is only 9.88per cent - which is much less than the

representation of SCs and STs in government service.18

In the wake of

these facts, one has to assume that the acute inadequacy of Muslim

representation, in spite of the availability of quota reservation for them, is

due to the two important reasons.

1. The former is deliberate violations of rules by the recruiting and

appointing authorities.

2. And the latter is backwardness and the lack of awareness to realize

the role of employment in government services.

To measure differentials in attainments at various levels of

education and employment between Muslims and other Socio-Religious

Communities the following indicators have been used.

Table 4.1

Share of Employment of Muslims and other Communities in Kerala

200119

Total Muslims SC/ST Ezhava Forward

Population 24.7 10/95 20.40 23.5

Representation 9.88 13.13 21.32 38.98

Excess/ shortage -14.82 +2.08 +1.08 +15.48

Even with the benefit of 12 per cent quota reservation (10per cent in

Last Grade), representation of Muslims in government service has

diminished to 9.88 percent; it is not quite substantiative in proportion to

their population. Meanwhile, the Ezhavas, another rampant backward

class, enjoying 14per cent quota reservation, with a lesser population than

Muslims, have secured 21.32per cent of government jobs.

At the same time the forward communities comprising 23.5per cent

of the state population have availed of 38per cent government jobs.

Schedule Castes and Scheduled Tribes of Kerala constitute 10.95per cent

of the state population. They gained representation in employment of

13.13per cent i.e. more than the proportion relative to their population.20

In addition to the government sector, the lower representation of Muslims

is invariably continuing in aided sectors of educational institutions. In the

case of arts and science aided colleges in Trivandrum district the staff

pattern as well as the number of the colleges is quite surprising.

199

Table 4.2

Specifics of teaching staff in the aided colleges, Trivandrum21

and

Muslim Representation

Sl.

No. Name of colleges

Total No.

of teachers Muslims

Others

(Christian+ Nair

+ Ezhava)

1. All Saints College 48 1 48

2. Christian College,

Kattakada 104 0 104

3. Iqbal College,

Peringamala 29 13 16

4. Loyola College of

Social Sciences 13 0 13

5. M.G College 85 0 85

6.

Mannania College

of Arts &

Science, Pangode

17 9 8

7. Mar Ivanios

College 75 0 75

8. N.S.S College for

Women 63 0 63

9. S.N College,

Chempazhanthy 63 0 63

10. S.N College,

Varkala 48 0 48

11. St. Xavior’s

College 46 0 46

12. V.T.M.N.S.S

College 57 0 57

Total 645 23 622

Table 4.2 illustrates a total number of 12 aided colleges in

Trivandrum district, out of which five each are under Hindu and Christian

managements respectively, and the remaining 2 are under Muslim

management - Iqbal College started in 1964 and Mannaniya College in

1995. Except in these 2 Muslim colleges all the other 10 colleges have

been appointed the teaching staff from their own communities. Meanwhile,

more than fifty percent of teaching staff in the Muslim aided colleges

belong to other communities consisting of Hindus and Christians. The staff

pattern of Iqbal College, under Muslim management, covers more than

sixty percentage of non Muslims. It is seen that the same happens in almost

all Muslim aided colleges in the State.22

Only the Muslim community

portrays itself as secular by taking an anti community attitude. In fact, a

serious study is needed to analysis this paradox.

Moreover, the above table points to a broad perspective on issues

relating to the education of Muslims in Kerala. It shows that the

community is at a double disadvantage with low representation in

government service and no representation in the aided sector run by the

managements other than the Muslims. In some instances the relative share

for Muslims is lower than even the SCs who were victims of the long

standing caste system. Such relative deprivation calls for a significant

policy shift in the cognition of problems and devising corrective measures

as well as in the allocation of sources.

201

Table.4. 3

Details of aided Arts & Science Colleges in Kerala and

Muslim owned Colleges23

Sl.

No District Total Muslim

Others

(Christian +

Nair +

Ezhava)

1. Trivandrum 12 2 10

2. Kollam 12 1 11

3. Pathanamthitta 9 0 9

4. Alappuzha 12 1 11

5. Kottayam 20 0 20

6. Idukki 6 1 5

7. Ernakulam 21 2 19

8. Thrissur 17 1 16

9. Palakkad 7 1 6

10 Malappuram 9 7 2

11 Kozhikkod 8 2 6

12 Wayanad 4 1 3

13 Kannur 9 3 6

14 Kasargodu 2 0 2

Total 148 22 126

This table indicates a significant disproportion between the Muslims

and the other two religious groups in the State. Out of 148 aided Arts and

Science Colleges in Kerala, only 22 colleges are under Muslim

Management. The rest of the 126 colleges are owned by Christians and

Hindus. Among the Hindus - Nairs and Ezhavas are the two prominent

castes which own the lion’s share of the aided educational institutions in

this sphere. Since there are inadequate number of Muslim educational

institutions in the State, the community is left far behind in education.

Table. 4.4

Community wise enrollment of students in colleges in various district

of Kerala24

The data displayed in Table 4.4 unveils the enrollment of students

in higher education under government colleges in Kerala during 1988-89.

This period was very important as the higher education sector was

completely free from the self financing system until 1995. So the students

who were enrolled in higher education were either in the aided sector or

government. According to Table 4.4, the lowest number of Muslim

Sl.

No. District Total Muslim Christian Others

1. Trivandrum 28581 2556 6340 19685

2. Kollam 34605 4020 6406 24179

3. Pathanamthitta 18477 834 5242 12401

4. Alappuzha 53077 1967 33754 17356

5. Kottayam 4950 280 1903 2767

6. Idukki 26778 1810 9348 14620

7. Ernakulam 27213 1536 10382 15295

8. Thrissur 6592 536 4127 1929

9. Palakkad 12951 844 1014 11093

10. Malappuram 13420 5759 801 6860

11. Kozhikkod 20643 4287 2082 14274

12. Wayanad 2482 221 1084 1177

13. Kannur 16505 1573 1968 12964

14. Kasargodu 4094 426 235 3433

Total 270368 26469 84686 158033

203

student’s enrollment is seen in Kottayam and Kasaragod districts because

no aided college was available for the respective community.

Table. 4.5

Details of aided training colleges in Kerala25

No. District Total Muslim

Others

(Christian +

Nair +

Ezhava)

1. Trivandrum 2 0 2

2. Kollam 5 0 5

3. Pathanamthitta - - -

4. Alappuzha - - -

5. Kottayam 4 0 4

6. Idukki - - -

7. Ernakulam 2 0 2

8. Thrissur - - -

9. Palakkad 1 0 1

10. Malappuram - - -

11. Kozhikkod 1 1 0

12. Wayanad - - -

13. Kannur 2 2 0

14. Kasargodu - - -

Total 17 3 14

Table 5.5 indicates the total number of training colleges under aided

sector in the State. Once, the training colleges were the breeding centres

for teachers. Those were the days when it was considered that a person

who got admission in a training college could feel that he had already

become a teacher. There was not enough number of qualified teachers to

fill the vacancies in the schools. Large number of mere graduates and

under graduates with hardly any training were appointed in many schools.

There after they were deputed to complete the training through inservice

courses. Even in this sector, the position of Muslims was quite meager.

The following table shows the representation of Muslims in government

and aided sector schools.

Table 4.6

Details of Teachers in Government Schools26

Total

Schools

Teachers Male Per cent age Female Per cent age

12136 181000 74211 40.82 1,07,554 59.17

Muslims 19168 11907 22.77 7261 9.26

According to Table 4.6 the total number of schools in the

government as well as in the aided sector is 12136. Out of this the schools

run by Muslim managements are quite low. As a matter of fact, the

opportunities for the Muslim community in getting adequate number of

admission in training colleges were very limited.

The table from 4.1 to 4.6 indicates that the Muslim community

miserably failed to grab benefits in proportion to their population both in

education and employment. While the Christian community in Kerala

constitutes only one-fourth of the total population, they enjoy around forty

205

percent of educational facilities in the state. As aresult they could get hold

of the major share in government services and public life.

However, the present phenomenon of private unaided schools-

recognised and unrecognized (though it had been prevalent in Kerala in

large number prior to independence), which started only as recently as in

the early 1980s, constitutes a huge section of general education in the state.

Private unaided schools remain largely beyond the domain of government

control and regulation; in many instances they do not fall under any form

of public accountability at all. The Muslim representation at these

institutions is also very meager just like in the matter of government and

aided institutions. A Study Report carried out by A.A. Baby observes that

nearly 56 per cent of the teachers are Hindus, Christians and Muslims

accounting for nearly 39 per cent and 5 per cent respectively. Muslim

teachers are obviously less represented in the teaching community even

though this religious group accounts for more than 23 per cent of the state

population (Table 10.3).

However, if the unaided institutions are functioning in the state

without any state funding, their role as gateways of higher education is

pivotal. For instance the candidates who cleared the entrance examination

for securing admission to engineering and medicine from such institutions

are very high.

Table 4.8

Proportions of students who secure admission for Engineering and

Medicine courses from the three different streams of schools (in

percent) - 200727

Schools Engineering Medicine

Government 25 15

Private Aided 8 15

Recognised Un-aided 67 70

Securing admission for MBBS and Engineering was quite a hurdle

until the end of the 20th

century - just before the emergence of self-

financing professional colleges in the State. Only outstanding students

from reputed institutions could obtain admission for a long time. A

paradigm shift has been observed in this sphere due to the emergence of

self financing professional colleges. Competency to get admission has now

switched over to the financial capability of the parents to purchase it. After

the introduction of entrance examinations for these courses, coaching

centres started mushrooming in the every nook and corner of the state. The

candidates from rich families, aspiring to seek admission, could afford the

fees of such coaching centres. Many studies have indicated that students

coming out from government schools are quite incompetent to qualify in

207

the entrance examinations for Medical-Engineering admissions. Table 4.8.

is a sample surveys which shows the low proportion of the students who

secured medical-engineering admission from the Government schools as

compared to the unaided schools. Such indicators reiterate the fact that the

poor students who completed their secondary education from the

government schools do not qualify in the entrance examinations conducted

for professional courses. A little progress has been seen among Muslim

students in securing admission for professional courses only in the last

decades of the twentieth century or afterwards.

Table 4.7

Religion-wise distribution of sample teachers28

Religion wise Number of

Teachers (per cent)

Hindu 242 (55.89)

Muslim 23 (5.31)

Christian 168 (38.80)

Total 433 (100)

The total number of recognized CBSE and ICSE schools in the state

is 587 and 100 respectively. In addition to this, a huge number of

unrecognized schools in the same pattern would be more than five times

than it is recognized.

According to a study released by the Kerala Sasthra Sahitya

Parishad29

last year called Kerala Padanam ('Study of Kerala'), only 8.1

percent of Muslims are pursuing higher education as compared to 18.7

percent of Hindus. Comparative figures for Scheduled Castes and

Scheduled Tribes are 10.30 and 11.8 per cent respectively. As the study

notes, "Youth from the Muslim community lag behind in education, which

obviously affects their employment opportunities and abilities to get

government jobs."30

Recently, the number of Muslims securing admissions

for Engineering and Medicine courses in self financing institutions has

substantially increased in proportion to the emergence of new self-

financing institutions within the community because of the financial

attributes which became lenient to the aspirants. This change has occurred

because of various factors, of which primarily, the role of hardworking

gulf migrants who were determined to provide better education to their

children at any cost predominated. The second, a happy fall out of

economic reform, is a recent phenomenon, the liberal attitude of

nationalized banks to disburse educational loans to the public.

It is quite obvious that the differentials among the three major

religious communities in the State are somewhat unbridgeable. Inadequate

number of educational institutions owned by Muslim Managements in the

209

general and higher education sector has resulted in the community lagging

behind their counterparts. Meanwhile the community possesses a large

number of religious educational institutions across the length and breadth

of the State. The serious defect of this educational system is that scientific

and technical education has no importance at all. This accounts for the

backwardness of the community till independence, as compared to others,

particularly the Christians and the Nairs.

Taking up the statistics of educational institutions in the State, the

community does not have proper share of the total number of institutions

entitled to it in the aided as well as the private sector. As a matter of fact,

there is a general grievance which has come up for discussion among the

public as to why the community which accounts for one fourth of the total

revenue of the State does not receive what is due to it in terms of education

facilities. An employment in the Government sector is not only a means of

earning a constant and secure salary throughout life but also a participation

in the administration under a democratic government. Such notions though

generated late within the community, helped in establishing educational

institutions to garner adequate representation in government service.

End Notes

1 George, K. M., Western Influence on Malayalam Language and Literature,

p.2, ISBN 8126004134 Google book.

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid.

4 Census Report of India, 2001.

5 Ibid.

6 Narendran Commission Report. 2001.

7 Amartya Sen, Education in Kerala’s Development: towards a new agenda,

New Delhi, 2001, p.5.

8 University of Calicut, A Research Project on Socio Educational Upliftment of

backward Classes in Malabar since inception of Calicut Univesity. 2002,

p.59.

9 Innes, C. A., Madras District Gazetteers, Madras, 1915, p. 284.

10 Census of India, 1901, XX, Part I, Cochin, pp. 93-101.

11 Census of India, 1901, Vol. XXVI, Travancore, p. 206.

12 Abdul Samad.M., Op.cit. pp. 56-57.

13 Vakkom Moulavi., Welcome Speech, Muslim Conference,

Thiruvanathapuram, August 1921.

14 Narendran Commission Report. 2001.

15 Narendran Commission Report. 2001.

16 The data in the report show that Muslim representation in the various

categories is in almost all cases below their reservation quota, the difference

being between 0.3 per cent and about 6 per cent in the four categories.

17 Krishnakumar ‘ Social Justice – Stir over a Report’, Frontline, Vol. 21, Issue

17 August 14 - 27, 2004.

18 Ibid.

211

19

Narendran Commission Report 2001.

20 A Socio-Economy Survey of Muslims in Kerala and India, published by

Forum for Faith and Fraternity, Cochin, 2006, p.34.

21 Annual diaries of the Colleges submitted to the University of Kerala, 2006 –

2007.

22 Directorate of Collegiate Education, Trivandrum.

23 Administrative report of D.C.E, Trivandrum, 02.06.2002.

24 Directorate of Collegiate Education, Trivandrum (Quoted Abdul Kareem P.,

Education and Socio-Economic Development, New Delhi, 1988, p. 31).

25 Ibid.

26 Quoted by Dr. C.K. Kareem in the Thangal Kunju Musaliar Birth Centenary

Volum, Kollam, 2000, p. 245.

27 Baby, A, A., A Report on Recognised Unaided Schools in Kerala 2008,

Thiruvannthapuram, 2008, p.60.

28 Ibid., p.64.

29 Kerala Padanam 2008., A Study Report prepared by Kerala Sastra Sahithya

Parishath, Kerala, 2009.

30 Ibid.

1