lucknow

Updated: Oct 30, 2017 14:11 IST

The Uttar Pradesh madrasa board has started preparation to introduce books by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in the Islamic seminaries to standardise and improve the curriculum in sync with job requirements.

The move comes close on the heels of the state government directing all madrasas in the state to register with the UP state madrasa board.

“We are in the process of standardising and integrating the syllabus, especially for subjects like science, mathematics and English. We plan to introduce NCERT books,” registrar of UP Madrasa Shiksha Parishad, Rahul Gupta told HT.

So far students, after completing their education from a madrasa used to become alims or maulvis which are low paying jobs.

Most madrasas primarily impart religious teaching with some big ones introducing modern subjects in the last few years.

The director said the plan is in a formative stage and officials are working on how to go about it. The board will not touch upon the religious teaching (Deen-e-Taalimi) that is a common practice in madrasas. Only formal education part will be revised soon.

“In the religious part only bifurcation of books will be done. Like what will be taught to class 1 student and what in class 5. Our soul aim is to introduce NCERT books for subjects like mathematics and science,” he said.

There are more than 16,000 madrasas in the state, of which 560 are government-aided while 4500 are partially funded by the state. The change in syllabus will be introduced in all madrasas in the state.

Read more: Uttar Pradesh: 2,682 madarsas fail to register, face action

Eidgah imam Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahli who runs one of the oldest madrasas in Lucknow adjacent to Aishbah Eidgah said there is nothing wrong in introducing NCERT books.

“But we would have appreciated had madrasa officials were taken into confidence before going ahead with it. We are not against modern education. In fact many of the private madrasas were teaching these subjects,” he said.

The Uttar Pradesh government first asked madrasas of the state to submit their details and register themselves on the newly launched website of the UP Madarsa Board. The government had launched a website http://madarsaboard.upsdc.gov.in. for the madrasa board on August 18.

The government had instructed madrasa to upload pictures of classrooms or the total area, number of teachers, their Aadhaar numbers, account details etc on the board’s website with an objective to bring transparency in their working and bring qualitative improvement.

Earlier in August, the state government issued order for madrasas in Uttar Pradesh to compulsorily observe the Independence Day, a move criticised for “raising doubts on the integrity of those running madrasas and its students”.