A ‘socialist society,’ enrolment of girls, professional management, sufficient funds_here are some tips on madarsa reforms from the West Bengal Government to Pakistan.

Pakistan wanted the West Bengal Government to “share” the details of its success (12 per cent of the students in madarsas in the state are non-Muslims) in madarsa education to dispel the “negative impression” that these institutions are the “breeding ground” for terrorism. The state government’s reply, detailing the madarsa model, has been sent to the Ministry of External Affairs to be passed on to Pakistan.

The West Bengal Government says that the “socialist nature of the society”, where children from non-Muslim communities too attend madarsas, is one of the reasons for its success. The appointment of teachers are done through the Schools Service Commission, the government agency that hires teachers for secondary and higher secondary-level schools across the state, to ensure that there is no dilution of quality. “We just say while advertising for the posts for madarsa teachers that teachers should have knowledge of Islam and its culture,” explains Abdul Sattar, West Bengal’s Minister of State, Minorities Development & Welfare and Madarsa Education.

Another reason is that almost all of them are co-ed madarsas and the enrollment of girls is as high as 65 per cent. Regarding the syllabus, the government says it has ensured quality and progressiveness. Also, the West Bengal Madarsa Board is the only such board on the Council of Boards for School Education in India. West Bengal also emphasises that its spend on madarsas has been quite high, an annual budget of Rs 130 crore.

... contd.