Clad in white kameez-suruwal, Pir Mohmmad Miya, 26, was solving a math problem on a board with a red marker on a recent afternoon. His students were attentive to what Miyan was telling them while writing on the board.

The classroom where Miyan was teaching looks like just any other classroom. The only difference is: The boys were wearing white topis and the girls were in hijab, a black scarf that covers their heads.

"We believe in modern education," says Miyan, who looks like a typical Muslim youth with his long beard. "But, we have not renounced conventional education, either."

Miyan, who works at Madrasa Islamiya School, which is adjacent to Nepali Jama Masjid, one of Nepal´s oldest mosques, says a combination of modern and conventional education is what Muslim children need now.

Niyaz Ahmad, principal of the school, justifies what Miyan states. "If you send your children to madrasas (conventional Muslim schools), they will not be able to compete with others when they enter into job markets," says Ahmad. "But if your children learn modern subjects like English, mathematics and science, they will easily get jobs."

While supporting modern education system, Miyan and Ahmad both were careful not to downgrade the relevance of traditional Muslim education system. "What your children learn in madrasas makes them aware of their social, cultural and political history," says Ahmad. "But, modern education equips them with skills and abilities to be successful in their careers."

Set up in 1996 BS, when the Rana oligarchy was yet to be overthrown in Nepal, Madrasa Islamiya School is one of very few conventional Muslim schools that have adopted modern education system. A majority of madrasas are still following conventional education system, which essentially includes three subjects: Diniyad (Islamic studies of social norms and values), Arabic language and Urdu as a cultural language.

Let alone adopting modern education system, about three-fourths of madrasas have not even been registered in any government agencies. In 2063 BS, the Ministry of Education (MoE) reinforced its decision to get all madrasas registered with the District Education Offices (DEOs).

However, according to the Department of Education (DoE), only 1,228 madrasas have been registered at the DEOs as of now. Of the total registered madrasas, 1,217 are primary, nine are lower secondary and two are secondary level Muslim schools.

As the government´s drive to get all madrasas registered fails to make a significant impact, none of government agencies is in position to say how many madrasas are in operation in Nepal. According to Zahid Parwej, a researcher with Research Center for Educational Innovative Development (CERID) at Tribhuvan University (TU), more than 4,000 madrasas are running across Nepal, especially in the Tarai belt. If Parwej is to be believed, only around one-fourth of Madrasas have been registered at the DEOs.

Let alone Madrasas operating in the Tarai region, even those in the capital are reluctant to get registration certificates from the DEOs. Only seven madrasas, six in Kathmandu and one in Bhaktapur, have so far been registered at the DEOs. There is no madrasa registered at the Lalitpur DEO. Parwej says over two dozens of madrasas are running in the Kathmandu Valley.

"Old and big madrasas are still unregistered," says Parwej. "Barring a few exceptions, almost all registered madrasas are relatively new and small."
If registered at the DEOs, Madrasas are entitled to certain amounts of funding from the government. A primary level madrasa gets Rs 168,000, while lower secondary and secondary level madrasas get Rs 186,000 and Rs 210,000, respectively.

In addition, they also get certain amounts of money for educational materials including text-books.

Parwej, who has conducted a number of researches on Madrasas over the last decade, says the government´s subsidy has lured only those Muslim schools that are facing financial crisis and not so well-managed. "Those that have no financial problems have not been registered at the DOE," says Parwej.

"We do not want the government´s funding," says Ziaur Rahman, who runs an NGO that has built several mosques and madrasas in Kapilvastu and other Tarai districts. "We are ourselves capable of running madrasas for our children."

Madrasas are normally owned by local Muslim communities. Muslim people provide donations and alms for madrasas running in their communities. Some madrasas operators get donations from abroad, too. "Especially when they go on Haj, madrasa operators collect donations and alms," says Parwej.

Parwej says this is the main reason why most of madrasa operators do not want to get their institutions registered at the DEOs. "If they register their madrasas, they have to disclose their balance sheets," says Parwej. "Registration of madrasas makes them accountable to the government. They do not want to disclose how much they collected for their madrasas."

Ahmad does not disagree with Parwej. He says the government should have a pragmatic approach to mainstreaming all madrasas. "Today, if some Maulvi goes to the DEO to register his madrasas, he needs to answer multiple questions like: Where do they get money from? Do they have enough resources to sustain their Madrasas?" says Parwej. "The government should allow all madrasa operators to register their institutions without asking such questions. Once registered, madrasas can be made accountable to the government."

source:republica,12 Sept 2013