Bihar elections: At landmark madrasa in Darbhanga, they thank ‘visionary’ Nitish for edu reforms

“Though the madrasa is run by a committee and depends on donations, the government started paying the salaries of madrasa teachers. Ten years ago we would get Rs 10,000 a month. Today teachers get Rs 20,000-plus,” he said. The management committee bears other expenses.

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Turning to students, he asked them to revise their Persian, Arabic, Urdu and the Quran lessons. They spread bedsheets on the verandah and started reciting almost in chorus. He sat amid them. “This is how religious texts are read and taught,” he said. “Most of our students want to become teachers or imams, preferably in Middle Eastern countries. The Nitish government has given teaching jobs on contract to many boys who passed out from here.”

Most of the residents are from needy families. Naushad is from Samastipur, the third of six brothers; one works at a bag manufacturing unit in Mumbai and another runs a garage in Samastipur. “I want to become a religious teacher. I like Arabic the most. All the best things in our texts have come from Arabic,” he said, visibly pleasing his teacher.

The Hamidia madrasa also teaches maths, science and Hindi. Master Sohail Ahmed, who is due to retire, agreed that students should be exposed to other subjects and a knowledge of contemporary politics.

Students won’t discuss politics but know of Nitish’s “good work” and how enrolment of Muslims has gone up in the last decade. Over 4,000 madrasas get government grants.

Sohail Ahmed did discuss the polls. “The biggest myth is Muslims don’t vote for the BJP. I voted for the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls,” he said. Are Muslims afraid of Narendra Modi’s government? “Not at all,” he said. It is Nitish, however, whom he sees as a “visionary politician”. “We don’t like Lalu,” he said, “but as he has joined Nitish, it’s all right.”