Breaking stereotypes, 11 Hindu children have enrolled in a madrassa here while as many as 140 Muslim boys have joined an RSS-run school.

According to the principal of Madrassa Jameeatul Ansar, the parents’ love for the Urdu language and literature motivated them to put their children in the madrassa.

“The Hindu students and their parents love the Urdu language and poets like Mirza Ghalib, Firaq Gorakhpuri, Jigar Moradabadi and others have a following, cutting across distinctions of community religion. Also, the families are keen that their children learn the traditional etiquette,” said Khalid Ansari, principal of the madrassa.

Madrasses have for long been associated with traditional Islamic religious teachings, but now most of them have joined the mainstream education system and are teaching mainstream subjects.

Mr. Ansari also added that 11 Hindu boys have been enrolled in the madrassa, who besides from learning other subjects, study Urdu language with keen interest.

The students from both the communities also offer morning prayers together.

Meanwhile, about 140 children have been enrolled in a school run by the right-wing organisation RSS, known for its Hindutva ideology.

“As many as 140 Muslim boys have been enrolled in various classes of Saraswati Vidya Mandir Inter College,” said college Principal Jitendra Singh.

“The day starts for the students with surya namaskar and singing of Vande Mataram besides Vedic hymns,” he said.

Mr. Singh added that all the students eat their lunch together.

Speaking about the Muslim students, Mr. Singh said that a pass-out of the institute, Danish Mustafa, has succeeded in getting an engineering job in Saudi Arabia, and claimed hundreds of Muslims students have availed very good jobs in various parts of the country.