At This Chennai Mosque, IAS Aspirants Attend Coaching Classes

Chennai:  Mohammed Ashraf spent hours at the Makkah Masjid in Chennai hoping to make it to the Indian Administrative Services. What the mosque offered was, along with prayers, a coaching institute with the best of teachers. A week ago, he became the first student of the Makkah Masjid coaching academy to clear the civil services exam. He has ranked 1,032 in his first attempt, but that hasn't dimmed his joy. "I want to empower our community the same way this institute is doing," said Ashraf, one of the 28 students hand-picked by the academy that launched classes in the mosque premises in February, 2013. Ashraf, who quit his job with Chennai Metro to try for the IAS, has also studied civil engineering at the Anna University. His father runs a welding workshop. Ashraf and other students have paid nothing for the classes, though the one-year programme costs Rs.40 lakh. The institute has brought in teachers and built its infrastructure with the help of donations from the community. To have a winning candidate in its very first batch is a big boost for the mosque as it fights stereotypes by opening its doors to a more modern approach to education. "We are very hopeful. We expect better results this year," said M Abdulgani, another aspirant, the son of a driver. Muslims, who comprise 14 per cent of India's population, account for just around three per cent in the civil services according to official estimates, a statistic that Makkah Masjid hopes to change in a small but significant way. Clerics allege that after the 1992 Babri Masjid razing at Ayodhya, political parties exploited Muslim youth for votes but did nothing to improve their lot. In the last 18 years, not a single Muslim candidate from Tamil Nadu has cleared the civil services exam, says Maulana Shamsuddin Qasinin, the chief cleric. "The only way to empower our community is to have them in the decision-making positions like the IAS and IPS (Indian Police Services)," he told NDTV. Those chosen for the mosque's coaching classes are given food and accommodation. The programme does not include women because of a shortage of accommodation, but clerics say they plan to remedy that soon. NDTV