A school146;s silent Prayer

Altaf Hafiz Ali, 22, lets out a muffled cheer when the day8217;s cricket scores reach his dormitory. Television is taboo inside his home, a...

Altaf Hafiz Ali, 22, lets out a muffled cheer when the day8217;s cricket scores reach his dormitory. Television is taboo inside his home, a madrasa. Radio tunes in to religious programmes only.

He is not allowed to 8216;8216;talk loudly with friends, play games, crack loud jokes, or make mischief in his room or on the terrace8217;8217;8212;the madrasa8217;s noticeboards warn. But he has four buddies, students from staunch Muslim families in London and Birmingham. To their devout Islamic schooling affiliated to the Deoband school, they have brought cellphones. Quietly, they root for India with every SMS cricket update. It is here, little more than a two-hour drive away from Godhra, that the Muslim vote 2.5 lakh of Bharuch8217;s 12 lakh voters are Muslims is a sensitive dilemma for the sitting BJP MP and his Congress rival.

From village to village in dusty little Bharuch, there8217;s a madrasa for every 5-year-old to lanky teenage Muslims. It8217;s a vast votebank nursing silent discontent and frustration at being 8216;8216;misunderstood8217;8217; by a government that has often blamed madrasas for breeding fundamentalism.

8216;8216;Sometimes a government official visits by the gate,8217;8217; says principal Mohammed Iqbal of Bharuch8217;s Darul-Uloom madrasa, run by a charitable trust with teachers trained in Deoband. 8216;8216;He asks questions, takes notes and leaves in a big hurry. Why can8217;t education officials visit inside? The government doesn8217;t understand our system, just wants to change it.8217;8217;

Gujarat8217;s border districts are dotted with over 1,800 madrasas teaching 1.10 lakh Muslim children. Poorer scholars do not pay fees. On graduation they will wait for jobs as maulvis.

Two years ago, Narendra Modi made sporadic announcements to 8216;8216;reform8217;8217; madrasas modelled on those in Malaysia, Indonesia and Pakistan. A task force was quickly set up.

So inside the ancient walls, they are cagey discussing politics with strangers. Go tell the world we are indeed trying to modernise, they say.

When we visit, diverting off the highway to Vadodara, Iqbal8217;s 500 students are gently snoring by the mosque8217;s coolers and digital clocks.

Story continues below this ad

As Bharuch grows, with operators promising 8216;8216;quick international travel8217;8217; and Australia Education Centres, changes are embracing the poorest madrasas with broken benches. 8216;8216;Government wants us to modernise, and we have plans,8217;8217; says principal M H Patel, watching over 130 five to 12-year-old children of farmers opposite a Gujarati medium school at Vasi village.

But Patel8217;s teachers are nervous. 8216;8216;We cannot understand why you are asking questions, nobody asked for our opinion before,8217;8217; says a teacher.

When siesta ends, students sip water filtered from the madrasa8217;s mineral water plant. Iqbal shares a fond story. Three years ago, a letter arrived from Manchester University. 8216;8216;My top-ranking student Mohammed Abu had submitted his certificates,8217;8217; says Iqbal. 8216;8216;The university wrote back to ask for a translation. Since then, my certificates are all available in English.8217;8217;