The Hindu : Opinion / Letters to the Editor : AMU admission policy

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Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Opinion

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

AMU admission policy

The Aligarh Muslim University's decision to reserve 50 per cent of the seats for Muslims in courses to which admission is through entrance tests is welcome. This will help empower Muslims by giving the poor among them more access to higher education. The academic and executive councils of the AMU took this policy decision in furtherance of Section 5 C of the AMU (amendment) Act 1981 that seeks to "promote especially the educational and cultural advancement of Muslims in India."

M. Sajid,
New Delhi

Muslims are both socially and economically backward and there is nothing wrong in giving them reservation in educational institutions. The secular character of AMU is in no way threatened because the new policy does not prohibit students of other communities from seeking admission to the university.

Shadaan Alam,
Aligarh, U.P.

The new policy is necessary to end what historian Rajni Palme Dutt described in his book India Today as the "social and cultural backwardness of Indian Muslims which in turn is a by-product of economic deprivation and political subjection since 1947." It is only natural for an uncompromising communal party like the BJP to oppose the move.

Jasim Mohammad,
Aligarh, U.P.

It is time Muslim leaders and academics realised that the community will not grow by reserving seats in a university. The real change should be brought not at the university level but in the madrasa education system. A major chunk of the Muslim population, particularly the poor, studies in madrasas and is still deprived of modern education. Reforms at that level will be more useful.

Syed Ahmer Zia,
Aligarh, U.P.

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