Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi today said here that the Central Government does not want to “shut down the doors of Madrasas”; it only wants to “open their doors for formal and mainstream education also”.While distributing certificates to those students who have been successful in “Bridge Course”, jointly conducted by Ministry of Minority Affairs and JamiaMilliaIslamia, for school drop outs and those students who are pursuing their studies in Madrasas, Shri Naqvi said that our “3T”- Teacher, Tiffin & Toilet campaign to bring Minority youths into mainstream education has got tremendous success.Shri Naqvi said that steps taken by the Modi Government towards educational empowerment of needy sections including Minorities have ensured that youths belonging to Minority communities are getting better jobs through quality education. He said, the Ministry has been working with commitment to “3E- Education, Employment & Empowerment”. In the last about one year, thousands of educational institutions of all Minority communities including Madarsas, have been included in the mainstream education system by connecting them with "3T-Teacher, Tiffin, Toilet".
Shri Naqvi said that many Madrasas are working very well in providing formal education and we are encouraging other Madrasas also to join mainstream education system also. He also mentioned that school dropout rate among Muslim girls, which was earlier more than 70 per cent, has now been reduced to about 35 per cent due to our awareness and educational empowerment programmes of our Government. Our goal is to bring it down to zero per cent.Shri Naqvi said that during last 4 years, 2 crore 66 lakh students belonging to poor and weaker sections of Minorities have been benefitted from various scholarships. More than 5 lakh 43 thousand youths have been provided employment and employment opportunities through job-oriented skill development schemes such as SeekhoaurKamao, Usttad, Garib Nawaz Kaushal VikasYojana, NaiManzil etc. NaiRoushni, Begum Hazrat Mahal Girls scholarships etc have benefitted 1 crore 21 lakh girls and women.Ministry of Minority Affairs, in collaboration with JamiaMilliaIslamia University, had started about 9 months long “Bridge Course” to bring Madrasa students and school drop outs into mainstream education system. This year, a total of 260 students had been trained under “Bridge Course” out of which 182 students have successfully completed the course and they were given their certificates.
Shri Naqvi said that Ministry of Minority Affairs has also started a training programme to link Madrasa teachers with the mainstream education system. Minority Affairs Ministry, in collaboration with JamiaMilliaIslamia University, has been organising residential training programme for Madrasa teachers. These teachers are providing mainstream education like- Science, Maths, Computer, Hindi, English etc.On the occasion of certificate distribution, besides Shri Naqvi, Minority Affairs Ministry Secretary Shri A. Luikham; Aligarh Muslim University Vice Chancellor Shri Tariq Mansoor; Chairman Guru Harkishan Public School Society Shri S. Manjit Singh GK; representative of Diocese of Delhi-Church of North India Bishop Collin Theodore; Secretary Mahabodhi International Meditation Centre Leh-LadakhVenNagasena; Anjuman-e-Islam, Mumbai president Dr Jahir IshaqueKazi; Secretary Maulana Azad Education Foundation Shri R. Rahman and other dignitaries were present.