Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath government has passed an order to make it mandatory for all madarsas in Uttar Pradesh to start teaching in English and Hindi medium besides Urdu. They have also been asked to follow the NCERT syllabus prescribed for schools.

Moreover, subjects like Science, Mathematics, English, Hindi and Social Science would also be introduced in the madarsa curriculum.

The decision was taken in the cabinet meeting held here on Tuesday.

The Arbi-Farsi Urdu Madarsa Board, in its meeting of May 15 suggested that all madarsas should teach English and Hindi along with Urdu. “The cabinet has approved the suggestion of the Board,” the government spokesperson said here.

Earlier, the only medium of teaching in madarsas was Urdu.

The spokesperson added that cabinet has also asked all madarsas to follow the National Council of Educational Research and Training syllabus and use books prescribed by the council.

Earlier in January, the chief minister had said that "shutting down madarsas" cannot be the means to uplift the Muslims, rather, modernisation of these institutions is the need of the hour. He had said, "We should look at modernising them. Even Sanskrit schools should do the same. Also, madarsas need to be computerised. When we talk of minority welfare, a lot of questions arise in front of us."