Squashing popular belief that madrassas are schools for fundamentalist Islamic teachings, Hindus students in West Bengal are making a beeline for these schools.
With madrassas shifting focus from Islamist education to science and technology, Hindu students now outnumber Muslims in four madrassas in the state. “The number of Hindu students varies from 57% to 64%, which is proof that madrassas and secularism are not anachronistic,” West Bengal Board of Madrassa Education president Sohrab Hussain said. He said out of 1,077 students in the Kasba madrassa, 618 are Hindus. The figures are equally encouraging at Orgram where 554 out of 868 students are Hindus. At Chandrakona, 201 out of 312 students are Hindus and at Ekmukha, 290 out of 480 children are from the majority community.
“It’s a misconception that our students only learn Islam-related subjects at madrassas. Times are changing and so are we. Now, we stress on science and technology. As many as 42 madrassas have computer laboratories,” Hussain said.
He said an increasing number of Hindu students were choosing madrassas over other schools because they had more credibility. “Mostly first-generation learners from backward classes come to study here as they know they won’t be looked down upon. Besides, madrassa certificates are on a par with national-level examinations,” he said.
There are 506 madrassas in West Bengal and 52 more will come up by the end of 2009. Overall, 17% of students and 11% of teachers in these institutions are non-Muslims.
“The only difference between madrassa and state board syllabus is that our students have to take a 100-mark paper on Arabic and Islamic studies, which is good for Hindu students as they learn a new language,” Hussain said.
Bibhas Chandra Ghorui, a Hindu assistant teacher at Chandrakona, said: “There are seven schools within one km of this madrassa. But people send their wards here mostly because of affordability. One has to pay Rs375 at general schools, while a madrassa takes only Rs110 per student.”
