– Md. Mujeebuddin

I chose MANUU because I could continue my studies in Urdu… (Sajid, an interviewee from MANUU)

I grew up in a small town near Chittoor. It had 300 Muslim households. My village school was housed in a deeni madrasa building. As there was one building for all classes and students, the classes were sometimes held under the tamarind tree. Teachers were vidya volunteers who came to teach for two or three months in a year, before the exams. We were 150 students and there were two teachers. My parents are daily wage labourers. They learned a little Urdu from local madrasa but we were the first ones to go to school in the family… (Alim, interviewee from MANUU)

Urdu medium students in MANUU are mostly first generation learners. Their parents are daily wage labourers in villages, petty businessmen such as teashop or small retail shop owners, or craftsmen such as carpenters, mechanics or ironsmiths. Some of them also are imams of village mosques. They are mostly from Urdu medium government schools in Andhra Pradesh, Maharastra, Karnataka and a few from Kashmir. Most North Indian students would have studied Urdu as a language in school and the college while doing the rest of the subjects in Hindi or English medium. South Indian Urdu medium students are much better in Urdu, compared to their North Indian counterparts.

Students get to know MANUU from the lecturers in college as well as from the teachers in the Distance Education contact classes of MANUU. Seniors also guide them to an extent. Many students join MANUU programmes in the distance education mode and then join as regular students at the PG level. MANUU is preferred among the Urdu medium students due to the following reasons: limited option due to Urdu medium education; relatively easy availability of seats compared to other universities; low fee structure; availability of hostel facilities; and the option to continue education Urdu. Politically, MANUU offers a safer option, given the predominantly Muslim student population. Women students feel that it is a safe place for them.

But then we have to listen to lectures in English. The classes here take place mostly in English and initially I could hardly understand anything. Teachers could not, so they did not translate for us. Since we are the first batch of students, there are no seniors to help us too. The teachers also did not give us any notes. We are five students in class. So, we set about making our own notes for the exams. We divided the course syllabi into five parts. We go to the library, and make notes from the relevant English books with the help of an English-Urdu dictionary. Once we complete the note-making process, we photocopy the entire set for five of us. (Sajida, an interviewee in MANUU)

Going to the library has become a habit for me now. Every day, I spend three hours in the library reading relevant subject books in English. This has changed me as a person and also improved my English. Now, I am in second semester and am able to follow the class lectures. Even though we write exams in Urdu, we intersperse that with English subheadings as many teachers don’t understand Urdu. We hope that the teachers at least follow the English sub-headings and mark us accordingly. Some people have suggested that MANUU also should be converted into an English medium university. If that happens, most of the Urdu medium students will suffer. (Zahir, an interviewee in MANUU)

Urdu medium students come with the expectation that they can go through the university system – listen to class room lectures, write their exams, participate in class discussions, read books – in the language that the university promises to educate them in – Urdu. But, they find that many teachers lecture in English, are not conversant with Urdu and have condescending attitude towards Urdu language and students. Right from the moment they enter the classroom, they are told to learn English and do their class presentations, assignments and write their exams in English. Shocked into compliance, the students embark upon their own English learning programme – through self-learning books, seniors and English speaking classes in the city.

It assumes urgency, as without English, they cannot follow the classroom lecture or prepare for the exams. In addition, they also find that the library stocks only the English language books for their subject. They also cannot find Urdu social science journals in the library. This compels them to take on the task of translation – of English language subject material into Urdu. They get a vague idea of what the lecture is about and build up the notes on the basis of these ideas and the copy of the syllabus in hand, with the help of the available material in the library.

Students have prepared course material for themselves in many courses through their collective effort, which they pass on to their juniors. While the class assignments can be submitted either in Urdu and English, final exams have to be written in Urdu. However, as teachers lack knowledge of Urdu language, the students lean to mix English and Urdu in the answer sheet. There are many cases where students were failed in the exams due to this problem of the teachers. There is no revaluation or improvement exam, and this is a handicap for the students. For thesis submission, the initial copy will be submitted in English to the supervisor. This again is done with the help of seniors, supervisor and many good Samaritans. After it is approved, it needs to get translated into Urdu as that is the mandate of the University.

While students do not oppose English, they are critical of the insistence on English while the university does not provide any resources and support systems available on the campus to learn the language. They are left to fend for themselves. At least 50 of them travel 25 kms each day to the Ramakrishna Mission campus in the city to attend English classes at 7 AM which are offered free of cost. The students attend these classes skipping breakfast. The students ask: Why can’t English classes be held in the university?

 

Excerpt from Anveshi Short Term Fellowship Report on Problems of Urdu medium and Madrassa Students in MANUU.
Md. Mujeebuddin is a PhD student at UoH.