Azamgarh: Amid the mushrooming convent schools, mosques still continue to be popular centres of learning at least up to the primary class level in Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh district. The trend is more common in cities and towns where Islamic primary schools are rare.
There are more than 100 mosques in Azamgarh city and around 40 percent offer primary education. A majority of students in mosques come from the Muslim community but there are no restrictions on non-Muslim students taking admission.
The educational system run by mosques provides free education including in subjects like the Quran, Urdu, elementary mathematics, Hindi and basic English. There are special classes for students of other schools who want to learn the Quran and religious morality.
“Our doors are open for every human being but, in practice, only Muslim kids come here to study,” says Maulana Intekhab Alam Qasimi, the Imam of Jama Masjid in Azamgarh city.
“Sometimes Hindu students also come to study in mosques, but they are more interested in the Urdu language and not primary education,” Alam Qasimi, who was appointed as Imam here in 1988, told IANS.
“Mostly, poor students come here to study as we provide free education,” he said.
“We have taken the initiative to educate every child. Everyone has to learn how to recognise what is right and what is wrong,” he added.
“Here people are more interested in education in mosques because they think that reading the Quran is necessary with modern education,” he said.
Another cleric in the district, Maulana Javed Ahmad Qasimi, has introduced a new trend in the mosque educational system.He started a madrassa, a special class for learning the Quran for kids.