Waqf board plans to develop 7 'smart madrassas' in Uttarakhand

DEHRADUN: In an effort to bring madrassas on equal terms with other educational institutes of the Himalayan state, the Uttarakhand Waqf Board has decided to develop seven out of its 103 madrassas as model madrassas, where students of all religions can study.
Students would have a proper dress code in these institutions, which would be registered with the Uttarakhand Education Board.
Out of the seven identified madrassas, two each are in Haridwar, Dehradun, Udham Singh Nagar and one in Nainital district. Pointing out the changes that would be brought in these institutions, Waqf Board chairman Shadab Shams told TOI, "We have identified the seven madrassas which would be developed into smart madrassas. For one hour after the Fajr Namaz in the morning, students would be taught the Quran. Thereafter, it will operate as a normal school till 2 pm."
He said these madrassas would be affiliated with the Uttarakhand Board. "After completing their studies, students will have the option to either take up a professional career or become a Maulvi or Mufti. It will be the choice of the student and we are making the effort to give him a bright career," said Shams, adding NCERT courses would be implemented in these institutions. "Students of all religions can study in these madrassas as earlier there was not much point in children of other religions studying Arabic. These changes should have been made long back but no one thought about it for decades. The CM has assured us all support to develop these madrassas," he added.
At present, there are 419 madrassas, which are registered with the Waqf Board and out of these, 103 madrassas are of the board itself. Besides these 419 registered madrassas, the Waqf Board authorities believe there are roughly 400 plus unrecognised madrassas in Uttarakhand. In September, the Uttarakhand government announced to conduct a survey of all the madrassas on lines of neighbouring Uttar Pradesh. While UP is carrying out the survey only in unrecognised madrassas, the Uttarakhand government said it will look into both registered and unregistered madrassas.