Minority education in India: issues of access, equity and inclusion

?The claim of a country civilization depends upon the treatment to the minorities? says Mahatma Gandhi. Indian Constitution also promises various safeguards to minorities which, surprisingly, have not so far been translated into reality-great challenge before the largest democracy of the world, very aptly captured by Sachar Committee in these words, ?the faith and confidence of the minorities in the functioning of the State in an impartial manner is an acid test of its being a just state? Among the five religious Indian minorities, Muslims, constituting 14 per center population of the consistently been lagging behind other communities on all indicators of human development since independence. They have been found most educationally backward community at national level and Government of India declared them ?National Educationally Backward Minority? in 1993 but the fate of Indian Muslims has not changed in the last 62 years of independence as they are again found most deprived community of the country by Sachar Committee. This volume is an outcome of a national Seminar, organized by AMU, Aligrah under the auspices of CEPECAMI to discuss the issues of minority? access to and inclusion in mainstream education system. The volume contains 22 papers, explaining various dimensions of educational exclusion of minorities, success stories of their educational institutions and future strategies for their inclusion. (http://www.serialspublications.com/bookdetails.asp?bookid=460&title=Minority+Education+in+India%3A+Issues+of+Access%2C+Equity+and+Inclusion)