Gap in quality education for minority community students: Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi

Mumbai: There was a gap between the south and north Indian states in terms of accessible, affordable and quality education for students belonging to the minority communities, Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Monday.

The central government had been working to bridge this gap by providing affordable and quality education to students of all sections, he said during a visit to the Anjuman-e-Islam Karimi Library in south Mumbai.

"There are better education facilities and resources for the minorities in south India, but there is a lack of such facilities in the north," the Union Minister for Minority Affairs said, according to a statement issued here.

Naqvi said his ministry was working to bridge this gap, so that every minority community student had access to quality education at an affordable price.

"For this, we are going to start the Tehrike Talim campaign. The minority affairs ministry is spending about 65 per cent of its budget on educational empowerment and skill development of the minorities," he said.

The process of establishing five world-class institutions across the country to provide modern education to the minorities was also on, he added.

"Our policy of 'empowerment without appeasement' has ensured that the minorities become an equal partner in the country's development process," Naqvi said.

The minister also visited Anjuman-e-Islam's M H Sabu Siddik Polytechnic campus and inaugurated a dialysis centre at Nagpada.