This is a serious problem in Mosques Madrsas that have male teachers for little Muslim girls ,, and this problem is the trust by the parents who believe that their girl child sometimes even the male child is safe ..in the house of God or in the Madrsa.. and most of these Arabic teachers come from hick towns of Uttar Pradesh. And though I am a person who does not believe in sectarian thought I feel the Sunni school of thought their Alims have deliberately allowed this problem to go out of hand in most cases if the parents had not found out that their daughters were being molested or sexually assaulted the persons concerned would have protected the rogue Arabic teacher so as not to tarnish the image of their seminary or mosque ..
I have seen as a photographer as a father of a girl child three girl grand children that mostly in Sunni madrsas it is the male teacher , calling the shots and one can hardly vouch for his antecedents , most are migrants jobless youth I assume with knowledge of the scriptures .
Never has an attempt being made to promote young ladies to teach the Muslim girl child and we wake up when an incident happens like the recent one at Govandi and mostly in poor slum pockets and this is a scathing attack on the childs mind and body , most children scared to tell their parents and most poor parents will not broadcast it to get a whiplash from people concerned . And I leave it thus I have seen at Mahim and in town Madrsas with teachers using the cane to make the child learn this is not the way our scriptures should be taught.. I think love and dedication is very important .
When I was growing up at Wodehouse Road in the 60s my parents who had no issue with Sunni Shia thought considering all Muslims to be one in the face of learning the Holy Koran and Arabic had hired a sadistic lame Arab Teacher , I still remember the beatings and the welts and my paternal grandmother cursing him for the torture but those days none dare say anything .. so we bore it in silence and he used to come on a cycle this Sunni Arabic teacher .
His idea was we parrot the scripture by heart .. we cursed him too my sister and I..
Now fade out to present times my grand daughter Marziya has been going to the Arabic classes since she was 5 years old at the Bandra Shia mosque . She wears the hijab and is taught by a Lady , no men are allowed in that part of the Mosque , and the classes are segregated .. no boys either .
Marziya now is 7 year old knows the scriptures the Namaz and everything related to her religiosity .. but here I must stress her grandmother too inculcated taught her the basics she recites the Namaz with my wife before going to school. .. so the parents too have to teach the child find time and not leave the child at the mercy of rogue Arabic teachers or suchlike .
And please even those who belong to the Sunni faith should read this constructively .. the main thought here is not our diverse ideology but the love of our child , grandchild her protection we are responsible for it and this awakening is the need of the hour.
No man is perfect because he is a religious teacher we are hardly aware of his sexual shortcomings and his pedophilia ..and I tweeted this issue yesterday but one cant say everything in 140 words .
Madrsas to need to come under the ambit of governmental surveillance and care .. the child has to be protected at all cost and I hope erstwhile Minister of Education Mr Tawde reads this .. weighing school bags in only one of the problems saving the child from teachers who could be molesters is far more important ,,
And I am proud in my area Bandra Bazar Road a Sunni Muslim lady has taken the step forward she teaches Arabic to the Muslim kids she charges Rs 20 and has done great exemplary service in the very small room she lives in she teaches Arabic the scriptures with love and without using the cane ,,
And one point I must add at the Shia mosque in Bandra where my grand daughter studies Arabic they are encouraged , given gifts if they do well in religious class , and taught manners etiquette and norms that are the pillars of our Islamic way of life and thought .
I think this compassion humility and love for humanity are as important too.. as a photographer I taught all this to my grand children respect for other faith sect , and respect for beggars that they shoot and the less fortunate ones ,, the money they save is give to the beggars each one has adopted at Bandra Bazar Road,.
