With Rajasthan going to polls in December this year, the Vasundhara Raje government is looking to cosy up to the Muslim population of the state. The government has come up with a plan to develop 500 modern madrassas equipped with latest technologies to teach students.

State social justice and minorities affairs minister Arun Chaturvedi announced that the government shall develop 500 madrassas with modern infrastructure and latest technology across the state. "We shall take up the development of the madrassas under the Adarsh Madarsa Yojana," he said.

"The students enrolled here will get the best of education and facilities at par with modern education institutions," he said.

The madrassas selected under the scheme will be categorised as grade A institutions and shall be registered with the Rajasthan Madarsa Board. While developing these madrassas, the government shall be providing the students latest gadgets, furniture, globe charts, books, and math kit that will get the students of the minority community access to modern education.

The Adarsh Madarsa Yojna was announced by Raje in her budget speech and is now being rolled out, officials said.

"The guidelines to developing Adarsh Madarasas have already been issued. A committee under the chairmanship of district collector will select the entitled madarsas, and on its recommendations the resources and technology will be provided to them," the minister said.

Sources said the government has already directed the officials to expedite the setting up of these modern madarsas so that they can be presented as model centres of education. All the madarsas shall be developed and completed within the current fiscal," an official associated with the programme said. The Adarsh Madarsa Scheme has been modelled on the lines of Adarsh School wherein the education department provides latest technologies and resources to the schools.