WB to help Pak modernise madarssas

Kolkata: Pakistan maybe in the eye of the storm because of their role in terror attacks, but there is a welcome message from across the border.

The Pakistan High Commission has sent a letter to the West Bengal government asking them to help Pakistan modernise madarssas.

All of Bengal's madrassas are showing the way of how madrassas and a liberal education can go hand in hand.

Says West BEngal's Minorities Development Minister, Abdus Sattar, "Christians, Muslims, non-Muslims all study here. Teachers are chosen from one panel. There is no Hindu-Muslim divide here."

A movement which was started systematically in the late 80s by the West Bengal government is finally paying dividends and that is probably why Buddhadeb's Bengal is receiving requests from the Pakistan High Commission to lend a helping hand to create secular and modern madarssas.

Pakistan's letter asks the West Bengal government that how 12 out of 100 madarssa students in Bengal are non-Muslims, in what is perhaps an effort to pick up a tip or two from Bengal on how to modernise the institution.

And what's more, Left leaders have promised all help to Pakistan.

Says Sitaram Yechuri, "We are happy to share these things with them. We feel that the Madarssas have to be modernised and democratised and this is happening here in West Bengal."

What the west, and some in India, call the breeding ground of terror, madarssas in Bengal are just an extension of the government's education system following a liberal curriculum - a balance between the old order and the brave new world

In higher madrasas one has the option of studying theology, arabic literature physics, chemistry and even computer science - something that is in line with the syllabus of the state education board.

Says a teacher at the HMM High Madrassa, Amina Khatun, "Madarssas should most definitely be modernised. If they just teach, religion they won't be able to make any progress."

The mechanics of running the Bengal madrassas could well be replicated across the border, but whether that happens or not, one thing is certain and that is that these students will surely help in changing perceptions and make tomorrow a better place to live in.

(With inputs from Arijit Sen in New Delhi)