It may come as a surprise, but over a hundred Hindu children are studying in madrasas various parts of Bihar.
Bihar State Madrasa Education Board (BSMEB) president Dr Abdul Wahid Ansari says that the Muslim seminaries attract both the elite and the downtrodden among the Hindus.
The madrasas provide education at the doorstep free of cost, which is specially attractive to the downtrodden sections, Ansari told rediff.com.
After their children joined madrasas, Hindus are finding much to their surprise that these seminaries do not preach hatred toward them or their beliefs, he added.
According to BSMEB sources, three Hindu students from a madrasa in Siwan district, one each from Begusarai, Chapra, Gopalganj, Nalanda, Nawada, Samastipur and Sitamarhi districts cleared the vastaaniya, equivalent to a class seven exam, with good marks, in 2002.
Similarly, two Hindu students from madrasas in Bhojpur district, one each from Bettiah, Chapra, Nalanda and Rohtas districts appeared for the faukaaniya, equivalent to the class ten exam.
The number of Hindu students passing out from madrasas in 2001 was comparatively less with only two appearing for the faukaaniya while eight appeared for the vastaaniya.
There are over 3,500 madrasas in Bihar, including 1,111 under government control where the Bihar government pays the salary of the teaching and non-teaching staff.
Some impart education in Urdu, Arabic and Persian up to the post-graduation level.
Ansari said that nonMuslims, particularly upper caste Brahmins in Mithilanchal region in north Bihar comprising Darbhanga, Madhubani and Sitamarhi districts, are keen on sending their children to madrasas to learn Arabic, Persian, Islamic traditions along with other modern subjects with an eye on jobs in the Gulf and in embassies of Muslim nations.
The trend began about five years ago. The madrasas charge Rs 160 for the class seven-level examination and Rs 310 for the metric-level examination, which is also proving an attractive proposition to Hindus in rural Bihar.
Though the central government began the process of modernising madrasas way back in 1994, the Bihar government introduced it only last year on the initiative of the BSMEB.
Under the modernisation scheme, the course was revised to keep it in tune with the curriculum prescribed by the Bihar School Examination Board and the Central Board of Secondary Education.
"Now we teach all the modern subjects, including the sciences, social science, math," Ansari said.
The revised course has been adopted by 92 BSMEB-run metric-level madrasas and 936 class seven-level madrasas.
More than anything, the myth of madrasas providing only religious courses and poisoning young minds against other religions has been destroyed.
"After a few Hindu students passed out from the seminaries, they propagated our humane approach. In fact, we are not teaching anything against any religion or anything anti-national as is being claimed by some vested interests to defame us," Ansari said.
Chief Minister Rabri Devi was among those who praised the madrasas for doing a commendable job last year.
The Bihar government has said it does not have specific information of any objectionable and anti-national activities in these madrasas.
Hindu fundamentalist organisations have frequently accused madrasas, particularly those along the India-Nepal border, of being fertile grounds for ISI activities.
