A Critique of the Madrasa Media

Maulana Khushtar Noorani Aligh is the editor-in-chief of the Jaam-e-Noor, a monthly madrasa magazine from Delhi. He, in this interview with Arshad Amanullah, provides insights into the domain of the madrasa media and while critiquing it, he speaks of his vision for introducing professional ethos in this sector. The discussion situated within the post September 11 context, lays bare how the mainstream media is perceived in the space of this lesser known media.  

Q: When you started Jaam-e-Noor?

A:  It is not me who started Jaam-e-Noor. My grandfather Allama Arshadul Qadari (d: 2002) founded a magazine with the same name in Kolkata in 1963. It had to shut down in 1964 due to his increasing preoccupations with other projects. Thus, Jaam-e-Noor is not a new magazine in the circle of madrasa journalism, though it is new in its present avatar.

Q: How did you get the idea to revive it?

A: During my academic soujorn (1996-1998) to Libya, I‘ve closely observed how the journalism is practiced in the Arab world. My Diploma in Print Journalism (2001) from Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan,
New Delhi helped me in developing my own vision of quality journalism. My sensibility got bruised when I used to see the way the madrasa journals were brought out. That is why I was very eagerly looking for an opportunity to translate my vision into reality.  On the occasion of chahlum (a ceremony held on the 40^th day from the date of a person’s demise) of my grandfather in 2002, I announced that I would revive Jaam-e-Noor as a monthly magazine in his memoriam. 

Q: Would you like to elaborate your views on the way journalism is practiced in the madrasa journals?

A: In madrasas, journalism per se has never been taken seriously. The motive behind these journals has either been to raise funds or to keep the community informed of the activities of the institution. The editors send to the press whatever articles they get without going through them. Lessons from the Qur’an, Lessons from the Hadees, the Chapter of Fatwas, etc are 4-5 archaic columns which you find almost every madrasa magazine. Their editors simply do not think on issues, like what are the present socio-economic realities of the Indian Muslims, what they need, what ails them and what they can offer to the community through these magazines. The reason is that they are not the professional ones. Whoever has a certain amount of mastery on the language of Urdu, is considered to be eligible for the post of editor. Thus, every editor of a madrasa journal simultaneously happens to be either a teacher, or an imam, or a principal, etc. So it is not difficult to imagine the standard of the journalism they practice. They just keep on reproducing stuffs relating to namaz, fasting, miracles and prophecies. One can find them in the religious books available in the market. What new things you are offering through your journal to the readers? Besides all these, the editors lament of their low circulation. Obviously, if you are not a professional editor, the reading material you are providing are not upto the expectations of the readers, why should they buy your magazine?   

 Q: What are you aiming at through the publication of this magazine?

A: With the help of this magazine, first, I wanted to show how journalism is practiced and why it should be attuned to the contemporary time. Second, the ulama have been exercising a sort of control on the society. There is an unstated rule that none could utter or write a single word against the mistakes they make. They use these magazines as a tool to perpetuate their sway over the masses. I want to break this hegemony of the ulama. In editorials, I write against them without paying any heed to their status or age. Many people said, “It was very courageous on your part that you have written publicly on the issues people were afraid of mentioning them in their private chambers. We wonder how they have spared you from the fatwa yet”. As a number of people have now started writing on these, once considered to be untouchable, issues, I‘ve, I think, achieved my goal.  

 Q: How people reacted to it?  

 A: A lot of debate and hullabaloo followed it. But as I never wrote against a particular individual, I remained untargeted. None can target you or reply back to you if you write on issues.   

Q: Apart from this, how your magazine is different from the rest of the pack?

 A: I have introduced a number of innovations in it: selected headlines on the cover-page, suggesting what the magazine has to offer, visual representation of the themes of the articles in the cover-design, and to get it laminated. All these are brand new in the circle of madarasa journalism of Ahl-e-Sunnat sect. For example, the cover page of the special issue on Jihad carries the image of globe wrapped in the national flag of the USA and a hand which has a sleeve made of the flag of Israel. All these symbols have been put in a manner which suggests that Israel, with the help of the USA, is trying to capture the entire world.   Q: How do you plan the content of your magazine? 

A: The magazine which contains 64 pages, is divided into regular columns and it strictly adheres to this column design. Its editorial, being a full-fledged article on an important current issue, runs into 6-8 pages. For Tahriri Mobahasa (debate), a regular column, I select a theme and invite experts to express their opinions on the same in 2-3 pages. This concept I have actually borrowed from the Sunday edition of The Times of India which provides diverse views by experts on a chosen theme. The next column is Fikr-o-Nazar (Views).This column is devoted to the views of those readers who are not columnists or scribes but they have some important issue to share with others, though in brief, say only in 10 lines. You can sense a sort of democracy in this column. The magazine has a regular column of the interviews which is very popular among the readers. As it is a religious magazine, interviews of only eminent Muslim personalities or of renowned literary persons get published in it. Khama Talashi (academic interrogation) is another interesting column. A columnist, under the pen name of Abul Faiz Moinee, critically analyses every issue of Jaam-e-Noor. He even does not spare me and I publish his scathing remarks because I want to spread the message that democracy and the freedom of expression are two key components of journalism.   Q: Does your magazine have a special column for fatwas?

A: Yes, the magazine has a regular column called “Shar’I Adalat” (In the Court of Sharia) devoted to the publication of fatwas. Readers send their queries by postal service, telephony or email whatever means they are comfortable with, to the Mufti of Jaam-e-Noor who is based in the qasba of Ghosi, Mau. The column publishes the question, full address and the full text of the fatwa every month. Normally, only 2-3 fatwas get printed in the column.Most of the fatwas are about the moa’mlat (practical issues), rather than, idabaat (prayers). This is in complete contrast to the norm within the madrasa journalism circle regarding the fatwa column, i.e., reproduction of fatwas in the magazine from the register of Darul Ifta of a madrasa without considering how old they are.  Q: Do papers based on empirical studies appear in your journal?

A: If someone sends such a piece, I welcome it. But the magazine, on its own, does not have the resources to conduct survey and fieldwork, inseparable ingredients of the empirical studies. 

 Q: The madrasa magazines are full of repetitions. Does it, in your views, put a question mark on the intellectual output and originality of the ulama?

A: Of course, it does. The reason is that the madrasa people have confined themselves within the boundary of madrasas. That is why I’ve, through this magazine, raised the voice that besides the religious subjects, secular subjects should also be taught in madrasas.This does not mean that the madrasa boys should attain mastery over modern sciences, however the knowledge of their basic concepts is a must. Madrasa students, after the completion of their religious studies, should enroll themselves into the government universities and observe the world. All this will contribute in broadening their intellectual horizon. 

Q: Which kind of scribes contribute in your magazine?

 A: Mostly I engage the young generation of the ulama, especially those who are exposed to the modern education as well. They usually are free to write whatever they fancy to write about. However, sometimes I brief them regarding the content and the perspective.

Q: Do the non-ulama also contribute to your magazine? A: Quite often. They constitute about 50 % of the contributors.  Q: How writings of the ulama are different from those of the non-ulama?

A: Writings of the ulama are marked with artificiality, difficult words, unwanted phrases and a plenty of synonyms. They lack in easiness (barjastagi). However, the newcomers assiduously avoid these shortcomings in their writings.

Q: Do women also contribute to your magazine?

 A: In the religious circle, there is almost a dearth of those women who take to the writing. Earlier there were no madrasas for girls but now a number of them have come up and began producing alimas and fazilas (women ulama). Women scribes constitute around 5% of the contributors. The issue of February, 2006 carries piece of Yasmin Zaidi who is based in the US. Likewise, the special issue on Jihad itself opens with an article of Dr.Shagufta Ne’mat who is from the Aligarh Muslim University. Women contributors generally happen to be the teacher in a university or a college. 

Q: Do you have any editorial board?

A: No. I only have an assistant who helps me in putting the magazine together.  

Q: Do you pay the contributors?

A: No. Their contribution is completely voluntary. 

Q: What is the circulation pattern of your magazine?

A: Total circulation of the magazine stands at 8000.This is the only madrasa journal whose 2000 copies are consumed in Pakistan. A madrasa magazine usually has its total circulation lower than it. Every copy of my magazine, according to an estimate, is read by at least four persons. Thus, my readership is placed at 30000. In India, UP has the biggest number of subscribers which is 2000. Apart form it, a good number of copies are sold in Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Rajsthan, Maharashtra, J&K and Gujarat. In the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Uttranchal, Goa, etc subscription is very low. The madrasa students and the ulama, especially the younger lots form the 70 % of my readers. University teachers, literary persons and intellectuals also buy the magazine. Around 50 imams of the mosques from the UK are among the subscribers of the monthly.   

Q: What is the rate of growth in your readership?

A: Though it’s difficult to find readers for a quality magazine in Urdu, Jaam-e-Noor gets around 150-200 new customers every month, out of them, 90 % are from India.  

Q: Do you also get all those government facilities which a mainstream magazine avails?

A: I’ve never tried to avail the government facilities. This is a shortcoming on my part. 

Q: What is your monthly printing cost?

A: The printing business cost me something around Rs.30-35000.The situation is that the magazine is not incurring any loss and we manage to get a very meager amount as profit.

Q: Do you accept all kinds of ads?

A: I can not accept those ads which are antithesis to the teachings of Islam. For example, I can not advertise for alcohol. However, I get a lot of other kind of ads as the magazine is very popular.    

Q: What is your marketing strategy?

A: To speak the truth, I am yet to develop any marketing technique. On the occasion of the urs of A’ala Hazrat Fazile Barailvi which is held in Bareilly, this year I offered an attractive subscription marketing scheme for which I had advertised in my magazine only. I made it a point that though the lucky participants got the subscription for free, rest of them also benefited from the scheme in a way or another. Consequently, I ended up making 350 new subscribers to the magazine. 

Q: Did you ever try to make your magazine available at the newsstands?

A: As the magazine is religious in nature, I don’t think I need to introduce it at newsstands. 

 Q: Do you publish human photographs also?

A: No. But I’ve begun to put blurred human images. It also sparked a heated discussion in the pages of Jaam-e-Noor. A lot of writings appeared in favour of my stand. So, I keep on publishing them.

Q: What do you think of the way madrasas are projected in the mainstream media?

A: Mainstream media is not honest in its portrayal of the madrasas. This can be attributed to mainly two reasons: those who do so, don’t have any knowledge of madrasas.They are fed with staple diet of rumours regarding madrasas.Drawing on these hearsays, they come up with superficial analysis of the phenomena, lacking any documentary evidence to support their own arguments; there are others who consciously do so.Thus, media is totally against madrasas. It’s always alleged that madrasas are the breeding grounds for terrorism. After all, I am also from madrasa and there are thousands like me who, in their own individual capacities, are contributing towards the making of a developed and prosperous nation.  

Q: Is a communication gap between the madrasa community and the media persons is responsible for this negative portrayal?

 A: I don’t think so. How can one accept that communication gap is proving a deterrent for those media persons who managed to discover the hideouts of Nirbhay Gujjar, Phoolan Devi, Veerappan, etc and to do interviews with them, while the forces of 2-3 states were biting dust in search of these dreaded criminals? The main issue is lack of the will. They simply don’t want to do it.. 

Q: How did you as the editor of a monthly journal reacted to the anti-madrasa propaganda in the wake of September 11?

A: My reaction to it got many manifestations. I have published several pieces. Also, I brought out a special issue on Jihad and provided a range of reading materials on the theme so that misconception regarding it could be allayed. Through another special publication on the Cartoon controversy, I have again tried to present all dimensions of the issue, hoping that it will help in clearing the muddied climate regarding Islam and Muslims. 

Q: Why did you prefer to bring out your magazine in the language of Urdu?

 A: As Urdu is the language of the religious circle and my magazine is also a religious one, it is in Urdu. Though hardly 1% of the circle is familiar with English, I’m very soon launching an English magazine as well. It will cater to the policy makers and media persons. General masses are good for nothing. If I manage to convey the real message of Islam to these chosen few, the situation can be ameliorated to a certain extent. It is only the religious elites, I have targeted through Jaam-e-Noor.

..

Madrasas in India: A Historical Perspective

History of the madrasas in India goes back to the advent of Muslims to the subcontinent. They played an important role in the eco-cultural life of the Muslim society. In the medieval India, they used to provide with the manpower to the government to run its huge and vast machinery. A chain of these madrasas were spread in the length and breadth of the country. They were instrumental in imparting education to the masses. They were marked with the secularism in their nature. This, including with other characteristics of the madrasas, attracted a good crowd of the children even from the non-Muslim majority. This situation continued up till late 19^th century. The luminaries like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Dr.Rajendra Prasad and Dr.Sachdanand Sinha and thousands of others got their elementary education in madrsas.

The situation started changing towards the 19^th century when some critical problems engulfed the Muslims of the sub-continent. On the one hand, hegemony of the Muslim dynasty which had been ruling the country for centuries, came to an end and, on the other hand, the Englishmen, conquering the land, had begun to consolidate their empire. Muslims were in a dilemma, not been able to decide what to do. As the Englishmen put an end to the traditional education system, they divided the education into two categories: religious and non-religious. This made the ulama worried about the preservation of the religious as well as cultural identities. The ulama responded to the situation in two ways: firstly, they tried to tackle this impasse through violent means in uprising of 1857 but it resulted in disastrous consequences; secondly, sensing the change in the need and nature of the time, they did their best to open a series of madrasas at a number of places first in UP and then all across the country. Thus, a network of them got established in the country.

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, a noted Muslim scholar, terms this spurt in the opening of madrasas at this juncture of history as the “Movement of Dini Madaris” [ Deen-o-Shari’at: Deen-e-Islam ka ek Fiki Motala, Goodwords, New Delhi, 2002] . According to him; the ideas regarding this movement must have been germinated around 1834 when Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay came to India as Viceroy of the British India Company. To him goes the credit to introduce the prototype of what is today known as the English/Secular Education System. The purpose of introducing this system, in Macaulay’s own words, was: “So that a generation may arise, which is Indian in birth and English in thought.” In other words, it aimed at consolidating the British Empire in India. Contrary to that, the ulama made an effort to establish an apolitical empire through setting up a network of madrasas in the country. The ulama were vehemently opposed to the Macaulay syndrome. This opposition on their part springs from the perception that it would act as an axe on the roots of the cultural and religious heritage of the country. This helped in cultivating their image as anti-colonialist and also made them out of the synch with the march of the time. Consequently they grew more radical in their anti-colonial views.

This network of madrasas was meant to function as the supply house which could cater to the religious needs of the Muslim community. So; they started imparting God-oriented education, instead of job-oriented education because they were not the factories to manufacture earning animals. Some of salient features of the madrasas which were established under the influence of this Movement of Dini Madaris are as follows:

1. They are funded by the public donations.

2. They provide free education to all students.

3. They were/are not an urban-centric phenomenon. They were/are opened in every possible village, bringing education at the doorstep of every house, resulting in the elimination of the intellectual gap between the masses and the elites.

Despite the fact that these madrasas grew by geometrical proportion, thanks to the missionary spirit of the ulama which was the driving force behind the whole project, their graduates didn’t perform that well in the non-religious sphere of life as was expected. This is evident from the fact that in the first half of the 20^th century, the sub-continent witnessed two important movements: the freedom struggle and the Pakistan movement. The ulama took part in both of them but they played second fiddle to the English-educated persons. The situation didn’t change after the Partition. When the All India Muslim Majlis-e-Moshawarat, the biggest movement of the Indian Muslims after the Independence, was launched, the ulama participated in it in a large number but they have gradually been marginalized and, thus, become ineffective. This can be seen as the consequences of the introduction of new education system by Macaulay in the country. It has created not only the dichotomy of religious and secular education but also raised the status of English to the language of the ruling elite and the educated ones. In this changed scenario, the madrasa graduates found themselves at the periphery of the day-to-day life though they have been playing important roles in every walk of life throughout the history.

Deoband in News-bites/sites:Adjectives to Describe a Madrasa

“..Darul-Uloom is a byword for Muslim orthodoxy, a source of fatwas (religious diktat) and symbolises ideology of the Islamic hardliner. The madrasa has 3,500 students. But there is a new restlessness in the home of muslim conservatism…”

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/muslim-scholars-face-identity-crisis/6752-3-0.html

The Flooded Madrasa

Last year’s rains came and went in Jagdishpur Katra, leaving its madrasa in ruin. More than 500 children of this large, Muslim-dominated village in Gonda District had studied the Koran here, and had taken lessons in Urdu and Hindi. The villagers, all poor farmers, are not able to repair the building, and the authorities will not help. This is one of the 10,000 madrasas in the state that the government does not recognise. Mohammed Khalil, a teacher who is holding classes in an empty field outside the village, says that they have tried hard to get the school registered, but failed. Many of the parents are convinced that this is the result of deep prejudice. Says one: “The officials make us run from pillar to post. It is because we are Muslims that nobody listens to us.”

For details, go to:

[http://www.himalmag.com/2006/may/cover_story_1.html]

The Feudal Elite Nurtured the Madrasa System

Arjumand Ara writes in her paper entitled  Madrasas and the Making of Muslim Identity:

“…The feudal elite nurtured the madrasa system exclusively for the poor but kept its reins in their own hands. This ensured that the new mass base, created in the name of religion, could be exploited as a significant source of power and a handy tool in their bid for domination in the emerging democratic societies. They thus needed the institution for their own survival. Deprived Muslims who were made to believe that their most valued treasure, Islam, was in danger, vowed to protect the tradition of madrasas even at the cost of their lives. Even today, madrasas are falsely considered to be the institution that played the greatest role in saving Islam from extinction. Ironically, poor Muslims consider madrasas the protectors of Islam without realizing  that many of the ulama and the maulanas, who exhort them to protect the system, send their own children  to public schools, convent, and even to Europe and America for higher studies…”

[Farouqui, Ather (ed), Redefining Urdu Politics in India, OUP, 2006, P 97]

‘Main Student Hun’: A Peom by a Madrasa Graduate

Al Manar, wall magazine of the students of Jamia Salafia madrasa, Varanasi carries a poem by Ahmed Sayeed in one (July27-August 10, 2002) of its issues.   ‘I am the Student’, as its title reads, gives an idea how the madrasa students perceive the modern education system and those who benefit from it. In the poem, The Student, in first person, addresses the reader and describes different characteristics of the present situation of his community. The community, according to the poem, is unruly and most of its members are unemployed. Students are free from all social obligations and they do whatever they want to do. They simply are not interested in their studies, society and religion. All these matters have bearings on their examination results and their own personalities. This has baffled the learned and responsible citizens of the society. Here is the full text (Urdu in Roman script) of the poem:

Main student hun! ae ham-nashin is daur-e-hazir ka

tmaddun ke gharey me hun nai tahzib ka sirka

Mosallat hun main sar par qaum ke wo masla ban kar

Ki jis ne hosh ghaib kar diya hai har modabbir ka

Mujhe sawraj ne bakhsha hai Azadi ka parwana

Agar paband hun kuchh to faqat qaid-e-anaasir ka

Tabi’at meri har qaid –e-talluq se hai begaana

Na ghar ka hun, na college ka , na Masjid ka, na mandir ka

Siwa parhne ke har us khel me rahta hun main aage

Ki jis me natiqa ho band shatir se bhi shatir ka

Main lecture room me bakwas sun-ne ka nahi aadi

Us par unghta hun desk jo hota hai aakhir ka

Sawalaat imtihan ke hal kiya karta hun yun aksar

Kaleja munh ko aata hai mowarrikh ka, mobassir ka

Mujhe qanun ki had-bandiyon se sakht nafrat hai

Rahun paband agar ab bhi to Azadi pe lanat hai

Main filmi aur jasusi rasail ka hun dildada

Darsi kitabon ke tasawwur se bhi nafrat hai

Meri chandiya pe gumrahi wa bad-bakhti ki topi hai

Nai tahzib ke chehre pe kalik main ne thopi hai

[Al Manar,July27-August 10, 2002,p 8].

Is Urdu Journalism in India a Lost Battle?

Sher Singh, a resident of a predominantly Hindu locality of New Delhi and the owner of the Sandeep Tea Stall where I usually have my breakfast, sometimes reads the Urdu daily Rashtriya Sahara and at times one of the Hindi dailies, mostly Dainik Jagran. He belongs to the generation which had lived to the experiences of the Partition of the Indian sub-continent. He vaguely recollects those days when it was not rare to see a person devouring an Urdu newspaper in the public domain. Now things have changed. Hindi newspapers have replaced their Urdu counterparts.

The feelings of the 70 years old Sher Singh are not isolated ones. Most of the writings about the Urdu journalism in India are nothing but a requiem to a non-existing entity. Academic papers on the theme are replete with reasons and figures substantiating this narrative of decline. In contrast, the last decade under the influence of the forces of liberalization, privatization and globalization, has been witness to some visible changes in this atmosphere clouded with despair and dismay. The emergence of Urdu publications from the Sahara India Mass Communications (SIMC) on the Urdu mediascape, launch of a number of dailies both in the southern and northern spheres of the country, and boom in their readership in recent years defies the stereotypes of the Urdu journalism and calls for a fresh look at the current scenario. This paper seeks to study this emergent interesting phenomenon.

http://www.minvanradio.com/reports/SAMM_2006/Annual_Media_Report2006.pdf

A Top Angle View of the Madrasa Space

I would prefer not to term Children of Faith a ‘film’ which provides a top angle view of the madrasa space. Its narrative is constructed of an irritatingly linear voice-over and a series of endless pan-shots. This brain-child of Saleem Ali has a screen-life of 16.22 minutes. Its mise-en-scene lacks nuances of moods and tones prevalent in madrasa environment. The theme demands from the director to spend much more amount of time on research, production and post-production of this visual document. 

The video is available here:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3234950266145914423&q=children+of+faith&hl=en

Introducing Natural Sciences in the Madrasa Curriculum

Concerted efforts of the Aligarh Muslim University towards enabling madrasa graduates to find employment in every sector of the Indian society, will always are celebrated. ‘Centre for Promotion of Science’, a body affiliated to the university, was established in March 1985.The main two objectives of the Centre, in words of  Syed Abul Hashim Rizvi,the director of the Centre, are : 

“a) to create awareness amongst Indian Muslims of the importance of acquiring and   creating scientific knowledge and to provide possible help to minimize their  backwardness in the natural sciences, in order to enable madrasa graduates to find  their places in the Indian society according to the public needs of the day; and

b)  to help in the introduction of regular teaching of natural sciences in madaris and in the  improvement of the quality of natural science education in Muslim schools.” 

Various programmes like Introductory Science Courses and Training Courses for madrasa teachers, Subject Refresher Courses, workshops, courses on the use of computers in teaching etc are conducted by the Centre. Mr. Syed Abul Hashim Rizvi has been in corresponding terms with around 1400 madrasas.He kept on sending them questionnaires of some sort or other with regard to the inclusion of natural sciences into the madrasa syllabi. On the basis of the responses he got from 192 of them, he draws the following tentative conclusions regarding the status of the education in the natural sciences in madrasas: 

a)      Assuming that only those madrasas that are interested in natural science education  have responded, about 13 percent (of those contacted) are involved in teaching  natural sciences.

b)      There has been a definite trend towards inclusion of natural science teaching in Indian madrasas during the last 10 years (i.e. much before September 11, 2001).After 1992, this percentage is about 56 of those madrasas which had responded to the questionnaire.

c)      About 33 percent of madrasas have reported teaching natural sciences from the  very   beginning.

d)      There is a significant number of madrasas (about 50 percent of those that  responded) that are teaching natural sciences upto the tenth class.      e)  About 14 percent of madrasas have between six and ten faculty members teaching  natural sciences and about 90 percent of madrasas have up to five faculty members teaching natural sciences.

f)      Most of madrasas where teaching of the natural sciences has been introduced in  the last 10 years are small-or medium-sized in terms of student strength. 

 Apart from other activities, until now the Centre has organized 15 Introductory Science Courses (of 12 days duration) for madrasa teachers and three Conferences of ulama, teachers, scientists and educationists. However, Mr.Rizvi feels that “The task of introducing natural science education and sustaining it in a large number of madrasas is gigantic as well as crucial. It requires the concerted efforts of much bigger organizations (than this Centre), with resources, suitable manpower and commitment to match the task.” 

[See: Rizvi, Syed Abul Hashim (2006),  “The Introduction of Natural Sciences in Madrasa Education  in India” , in  Hartung,Jan-Peter & Helmut Reifeld (ed), Islamic Education, Diversity and National Identity: Dini Madaris in India Post 9/11. Sage Publications,New Delhi].

What Role for Madrasas that Teach Hindus?

It is surrounded by paddy fields and hectares of green farmland. Its 320 pupils, many of them tribal children and first generation learners, come from the surrounding, largely poor, district of Nadia. The girls outnumber boys and they are taught together in classrooms with their rickety wooden tables and benches. Lakhan Soren, 15, is one of the 80 Hindu pupils studying at the Narapatipara High Madrassa…..

The headmaster, Mohammad Saffar Ali Mondal says the pupils at Narapatipara High Madrasa are taught in exactly the same way as they are at any other secondary school in West Bengal. “They have the same syllabus, the same curriculum, the same management, the same appointment of teachers, both Hindus and Muslims, same pensions, benefits and pay. Everything is the same.”  “There is an emphasis on Islamic studies in senior madrasas but not in junior high and high madrasas like ours,” Mr Mondal says. 

Narapatipara High Madrasa is typical of the more than 500 officially registered madrasas in the state. These madrasas are quite unlike those said to be found elsewhere in India, and the rest of the world. Traditionally madrasas have been seen as centres for Islamic learning where girls are often taught separately from the boys. But in West Bengal some 40,000 Hindus study in them and they are co-educational, in fact there are more girls than boys in some classrooms.

The West Bengal Board of Madrassa Education (WBBME) controls and supervises these madrasas and works according to the guidelines set by the state’s school education department. Abdus Sattar, the president of WBBME, says they fulfil the demand of poor, rural and backward communities where there is no school. “As for the secular nature of education… there’s been a long tradition in the state for such education”, he says.

For details, go to: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4829140.stm