Madarsa at Masjid in Manimajra Chandigarh on Monday, October 14 2013. Express photo by Jaipal Singh Madarsa at Masjid in Manimajra Chandigarh on Monday, October 14 2013. Express photo by Jaipal Singh

Even as the Madarsa Welfare Society (MWS) — a people’s collective working towards welfare of the madarsas across Uttarakhand — has written to Chief Minister Trivendra Rawat requesting him to facilitate Sanskrit education in the madarsas across the state, officials of the Uttarakhand Madarsa Education Board, on Friday, rejected the idea calling it “unfeasible”.

On December 8 the Gadarpur-based MWS, which has representatives in 207 madarsas across the state, wrote to Rawat asking him to “appoint Sanskrit teachers in the madarsas that were ready to include Sanskrit in the curriculum”.

Sibte Nabi, chairperson, MWS, said to The Indian Express, “All 207 madarsas that we are connected with, are welcoming of the idea of including Sanskrit in their curriculum. We want the madarsa educated students to be able to pursue courses in Ayurveda studies, which is currently impossible since our students don’t have any understanding of the language integral to Ayurveda studies (Sanskrit).”

Nabi said that funds under the centre’s Scheme to Provide Quality Education in Madarsas (SPQEM) must be utilised towards providing Sanskrit education to the 25,000-odd students in the state who were currently receiving education in madarsas.

State Madarsa Education Board not ready to include Sanskrit in curriculum

While 297 madarsas across the state are affiliated to the Uttarakhand Madarsa Education Board, Akhlaq Ahmad Ansari, deputy registrar of the Board, said to The Indian Express, “We have not yet received any letter from any madarsa asking us to include Sanskrit in the curriculum for madarsas.”

“Including Sanskrit in the curriculum would result in a technical problem,” Ansari said. “Hindi and English are our priority, they have to be taught in the madarsas. Other than that we can have only one other language – either Persian or Arabic – and two other subjects other than languages. Including Sanskrit in the curriculum in unfeasible. We can certainly not drop Persian, or Arabic to include Sanskrit in the curriculum,” Ansari said.

While the chief minister has not consulted the Board yet on MWS’s request, Ansari said that when approached the Board would discuss the “technical problem” with the chief minister.

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