Himachal to soon get madrasa for girls

Mazahiri attributed the delay in starting the madrasa to a lack of resources, even though he admitted that educating Muslim should be a priority in Himachal. Muslims make up just two per cent of the state’s population and Mazahiri say that fewer families are sending girls to schools.

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Beside Missarwala, the three other madrasas are at Shimla, Chamba and Nalagarh.

The madrasa in Missarwala caters to students from other states as well.

“We have a strength of 586 students and the highest number of them are from Sirmaur district (179). There are 151 students from Bihar and another 77 from UP. Students from Punjab, Jharkhand, Haryana and Nepal are also getting their education here,” Mazahiri said.

The students study all subjects, including Hindi till class V, after which the curriculum focuses entirely on religious education.

The management is also reluctant to accept government grants under the centrally funded scheme for modernisation of madrasas fearing that it would lead to interference in their education pattern.

“We are ready for modernisation but will seek details from the government on the funding pattern and will study everything before deciding if we want to take the Central grants,” the nazim said.