Abstract:

Parochial schools are the schools which provide religious education along with standardized education pattern. Hence these parochial schools are an important feature in preserving the traditions and culture of various religions in India. However, with faster growth and advancements, these parochial schools have not been able to match up with the education standards and facilities provided by commercial schools. Hence there has been a decreasing impact of these parochial schools in India.

The research paper attempts to identify the factors which have been responsible for the overall decline of the standards of parochial school over time. The research is focused on declining educational standards of Madrassas in a city named Roorkee, in Uttar Pradesh state of India. Roorkee is a city with mixed population of all religion, with Hinduism and Islam being in majority. There are a lot of Madrassas in the city, which are parochial schools for Muslim Students. A report is prepared based on the findings of through theoretical research and practical observation of the schools and meeting with the officials. Various factors such as lack of adequate funds, lack of infrastructure, non-availability of quality teachers for providing religious education, terrorism, Government Policies, etc. have been discussed. The Ayodhaya land case, which has led to the demolition of an age old Babri Masjid and triggered Hindu-Muslim riots in the past, has also been discussed in context of its effect on the parochial schools in Roorkee as Roorkee is not very far from Ayodhaya. Besides discussing the factors with respect to Muslim Education in Roorkee, an attempt is made to correlate these factors with overall declining standard of parochial education in India.

Based on the findings of the research, various reforms are also suggested to help improve the declining position of parochial schools in the Indian Educational system: both at the grass root level, as well as for policy making at national level.