Bihar madrassa teaches Hindu kids

Patna (Bihar): A madrassa in Bihar has opened its doors to Hindu students, making a rare, but welcome attempt to break away from established fundamentalist shackles normally associated with them.
The Darul Uloom Al Islamia imparts modern education to children regardless of their religion.
"Hindu children and Muslim children are all taught together with care and love here," says a Hindu student, Dinesh Kumar.
The children here get to learn all subjects from geography to science, which is not the usual norm in madrassas. Hindu students can learn Urdu scriptures if they like, but it is never imposed on them.
"It depends on the wish of the guardian and the child. If they want to be taught only Hindi, English, Maths and Sanskrit, that can be done. And, if some parent as well as child wants to learn Urdu, they are also taught Urdu," says a teacher, Khurshid Anwar Kashmi.
Hindu parents prefer sending their children to this school rather than a government-run school nearby, as they believe the children are taught well in the madrassa.
"There is a government school here, but it does not have a good standard and does not teach well. So, we send our children to this madrassa. They teach well and we want our children to learn English and Urdu," says a Hindu parent, Satyajeet.
There are over 4,500 madrassas in Bihar of which 1,110 are state-run.
The remaining 2,500 madrassas are affiliated to the Bihar State madrassa Education Board - a government body.
An attempt has been made to modernise education in select seminaries by introducing science and computers as subjects.
In its 2002 report, the Bihar Government had said it had no information about any anti-national activities taking place in madrassas in the state.
As per the 2001 Census Report, Bihar has 13 million Muslims.