Islamic Society, Ahrora, Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, India-Educating The Backward Minority, Islamic Society Mirzapur, Islamic Society UP, Islamic Society Uttar Pradesh, Al-Falah Niswan College, Jamia Tahzibul Islam, Al-Falah Traning Centre, Islamic Society

THE HISTORY of Mirapur is said to be very old, however, the earliest mention of the town is found in the writings of Tieffenthaler, who drew up his description of the country between 1760 and 1770. He mentioned it, under the name of Mirzapur especially as a great mart. In the records of Jonathan Duncan, who was resident of Varanasi, frequent mention is made of the place, as Mirzapur. It was a civil and military station during the British time. It was a flourishing town even during those days due to its mart of silk and cotton and extensive manufactory of carpets, which has become its major signature not only in India but in other countries as well. At the time of the Mughal king Akbar, carpet weaving began in the Jaunpur and Allahabad districts of Uttar Pradesh. During the course of time, the weavers migrated to Mirzapur. Presently, the district contributes about 80 percent of the Indian carpet market, of which one-fourth is exported.

THE POPULATION of the district comprised of 1,657,139 persons in 1991. Out of them as many as 1,428,499 persons were found residing in villages making a vast majority of 86.20% rural population. There were 879,820 males and 777,319 females with the sex ratio of 884.

Particular	Population	Percentage
Total	2,116,042	100.00
Hindus	1,995,851	94.32
Muslims	114,689	5.42
Christians	2,116	0.10
Sikhs	2,327	0.11
Buddhists	199	0.01
Jains	96	0.00
Others	847	0.04

It is obvious here that the Muslims who comprise the educationally the most backward minority of the area have 5.42% population, whereas as the other such community in the area comprising the Buddhists were only negligible in number. Therefore, reference to ‘educationally backward communities of Mirzapur’ in the present display, will be generally meant by the local Muslim community only. Obviously, the other minorities such as Christians, Sikhs and Jains are less in number but have highly literacy rate in the area similar to other parts of the country.

In 2001, the population of the Mirzapur district was recorded to be 2,116,042 persons in the district of which 1,115,249 were males and 1,000,793 females making the sex ratio to be 897 which is slightly higher than in the previous census. The population of the Mirzapur city in the year was of 205,264 persons. While making calculation from the approximate population growth rate of the district 30% during the last two decades, it may be concluded that the present population of the district (in 2006) would be around 2,497,000 persons or in other words 2.5 million persons. Since the Commissioner of Census of India has yet to release religion-wise data at district level, the present Muslim population in the district may be calculated by presuming that there is no significant change in the percentage of the Muslims population of the district from the above-referred 5.4%. Hence, it may be deducted that there should be around 135,000 Muslims in the district. The general sex ratio is generally lower than the Muslim sex ratio. Therefore, with the presumed sex ratio of the Muslim community to be more than 900, it may be derived that there would be around 71,000 Muslim males and 64,000 Muslim females in the district.

The center of the Project, i.e. Ahraura town, and the nearby villages form a Muslim concentration area in the district. The population of the town is nearly around 30,000 persons; 25% of which are Muslims. Thus, the sizable Muslim population of the area inhabits Ahraura and in the vicinity apart from in the district headquarters. It can be an easy guess that the Project is going to serve the population of approximately 100,000 Muslims apart from several non-Muslims.

EDUCATIONALLY Uttar Pradesh stands very low in the country and placed among the BIMARU states (that is Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh which are highly underdeveloped states). Mirzapur and nearby districts, comprise a very backward region. According to 1991 census the literacy rate of the district was just 39.68, with female literacy glaringly 22.32%. In rural areas the general literacy was recorded to be 36.54% whereas the corresponding figure for female literacy was 18.55% only.

The Muslim literacy rates have generally been recorded lagging behind the national figures by 10-15 points. Thus, it may be derived that the general Muslim literacy in the area must have been less than 30% in 1991. Accordingly, the present literacy rate of the Muslims would be between 35-40% keeping the pace of improvement in Uttar Pradesh. Similarly, it is expected that only 20-25% Muslim women would be literate by this time. It may be noted that the Muslim literacy rate in the state has been recorded in the 2001 Census to be 47.8 % as against the Muslim literacy rate of the country of 59.1% and that of the entire country as 68%. The female literacy rate of the Muslim Community in the state is even worse being just 37.4% as against female literacy rate of the entire community to be 50.1 %. The emerging scene from these data reveal that Muslims of the area area in a pathetic condition. Since the Mirzapur district is highly rural with 85% rural population, it can be only guessed that the number of general as well as the Muslim girls joining secondary education would be highly nominal in number and those who could enjoy the privilege of higher education can be counted just on finger tips.

There are only five degree colleges in the district, all in Mirzapur city imparting education in arts, science and commerce. There is neither medical nor engineering college and only one poly-technique and industrial training center for serving the education needs of the local people.

No.	Level of Education	Rural	Urban	Total
1.	Jr. Basic School	1152	105	1257
2.	Sr. Basic School	198	131	329
3.	Sr. Secondary	43	24	67
4.	Degree College	2	3	5

The above table shows that the number of senior secondary schools in the entire district is 67 supported by 329 middle and 1257 primary schools. That means there are only 0.5 primary, 0.13 middle and 0.03 senior secondary schools per thousand population of the district. It should be noted here that as compared to rural institutions there were 92% primary, 60% middle and 64% senior secondary schools in urban areas. This reveals of the glaring imbalance in the upper levels of education as illustrated by the fact that around 40% institutions in beyond primary levels cater to the needs of only 15% of the population.

It must be noted here that Ahraura area has lesser number of primary schools as compared other parts of the district, as shown in the Chart-1. The Chart presents a comparative picture of the existing disparity in terms of number of educational institutions per thousand persons in Ahraura and Mirzapur urban localities according to census 1991. The appearing situation is quite strange. There are almost half number of primary schools in Ahraura town as compared to Mirzapur city, the number still falls in case of middle schools recording almost one third number of institutions in Ahraura as compared to Mirzapur, whereas in case of secondary level institutions Mirzapur has only a slight edge over Ahraura. This speaks of the dire needs of the area as regards opening of educational institutions and promotion of school level education. In the Ahraura town there are only three senior secondary schools, all of them are in private sector including the one run under Islamic Society.

Although the local people expected faster growth in the educational field when Shri Rajnath Singh the erstwhile Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh won midterm assembly election from Mirzapur in 1998. However, as it generally happens he forgot the area after the election similar to other politicians and the people were left to the mercy of general course of development, which is quite slow and not steady.