Muslim clerics hail Centre's decision to connect Madrasas to mainstream education

Muslim clerics have hailed the Centre's decision that Madrasas across India will be connected with mainstream education for the betterment of children studying in the Islamic seminaries.

Speaking to ANI, Muslim cleric, Umer Ilyasi thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi for the initiative.

Claiming that in past the Muslims were deprived of good education facilities, Ilyasi said that now the Muslims will also be able to equally contribute to the development of the country.

"In the past, not many efforts were made for the development of the minorities' education system. Now, I congratulate the government and Minority Affairs Ministry for focusing on the issue and taking this big decision. It's a great move. Even we will now be able to equally contribute to the development and growth of the country. I want to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi for this initiative," he said on Tuesday.

Asserting that soon India will become a "vishwa guru", the cleric said, "The slogan Prime Minister Modi gave "Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas aur ab Sabka Vishwas", has managed to gain the trust of Muslims for the government. Now the time has changed, it's not about any religion, caste or creed. We all will work together for the development of the country and will soon make it a "vishwa guru'."

Echoing the similar sentiments, another cleric from Aligarh named Rehan Akhtar Qasmi said, "The decision by the Centre is condemnable. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has said that there should be computer education in Muslim madrasa. PM had earlier made it clear that he is planning to bring the minority to the mainstream of education. On the occasion of Eid, the government provided scholarship to five crore Muslim students. We want to thank the government for this step. We hope it gets implemented. It is important to monitor the educational system of the Muslim community," Qasmi said.

Scores of reactions from the Muslim community came after Naqvi on Tuesday announced, "Madrasas are in large number across the country. They will be connected with formal education and mainstream education so that those children studying there can also contribute to the development of society."

"Madrasa teachers across the country will be given training from various institutions in mainstream subjects such as Hindi, English, Maths, Science, Computer etc. so that they can impart mainstream education to the Madrasa students. This programme will be launched next month," Naqvi wrote on Twitter.

Modernisation of Madrasas is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's plan that he laid out in the run-up to Lok Sabha elections in 2014.

"Hold Quran in one hand and computer in other," Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said.

"To ensure socio-economic-educational empowerment of minorities especially girls through '3Es- Education, Employment and Empowerment,' various scholarships including pre-matric, post-matric, merit-cum-means etc will be provided to five crore students in next five years," the union minister informed.

Free-coaching for central and state administrative services, banking services, staff selection commission, railways and other various competitive services will be provided to economically weak Minority- Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi youths, Naqvi added.