By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
New Delhi: Madrasa students from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh may in near future get direct admission in courses at India’s prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi.
JNU had begun an enquiry into madrasas and madrasa boards in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. This enquiry is being conducted by JNU Students Union in the wake of the rising demand for direct admission of madrasa students at the university. In the present system, a madrasa student has to clear first year of a degree course from any other mainstream university including Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University.
The enquiry is meant to collect data on the standard of the madrasas, their resources, duration and validity of their degrees, their certificates and syllabi. JNU Students Union itself had demanded direct admission of these students in the university courses. The student body had argued that as other central universities are admitting madrasa students, why JNU should raise any objection to their admission at this university. Thereafter, JNU Equivalence Committee decided to enquire about educational standards and certificates of madrasas in U.P. and Bihar. JNU professors F.U. Farooqui, Aslam Mahmood and H. H. Qureshi have been deputed to conduct the enquiry.
After a 10-day tour of Uttar Pradesh, Prof. F.U. Farooqui said there is variation in madrasa system of education. Different madrasas and boards have set different standards for their courses for ‘Alim’ and ‘Fazil’. At some places it is equivalent to 12th standard while it is equivalent to graduation at other places. Moreover, at the level of ‘Alim (equivalent to 12th standard), only three subjects, English, religious text and Arabic, are taught in madrasas, whereas other boards teach five or more subjects. However, he said students having the degree of ‘Alim could be allowed to appear in entrance examinations for admission in degree courses at JNU.