UP madrasas to get modern makeover: Minister Danish Azad Ansari highlights reform agenda

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) May 23 (ANI): In a major step towards modernising madrasa education in Uttar Pradesh, the Yogi Adityanath government is set to introduce a comprehensive curriculum overhaul.
UP Minority Affairs Minister Danish Azad Ansari shared details of the reform on Friday, outlining the government's vision to bring madrasas into the mainstream education fold. Minister Azad said, "Ek hath me Quran, ek hath me laptop" is our government's agenda to upscale the madrasa education.
"Madrasas will now include compulsory English, Hindi, computer education, science labs, mini ITIs, and sports, ensuring all-round development of students," said Ansari to ANI.
To standardise academic quality, the NCERT curriculum will be adopted from classes 1 to 3, while the SCERT syllabus will be followed from class 4 onwards. The initiative also includes a teacher training program to equip educators with modern teaching techniques.
"We're planning these reforms at the administrative level to ensure smooth implementation and infrastructural readiness," Ansari added. "Our aim is to empower madrasa students with skills that make them competitive and future-ready."
The state government sees this initiative as a transformative move to blend traditional religious education with contemporary academic and vocational training.
Earlier, educational reforms have been proposed in Uttarakhand, where Mufti Shamoon Qasmi, president of the Uttarakhand Madrasa Education Board, has said that students in state madrasas will be taught about Operation Sindoor, launched by the Indian Armed Forces against terror infrastructures in Pakistan.
Qasmi said that a delegation met Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and congratulated him on Operation Sindoor. The delegation also conveyed its thoughts to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The delegation took inspiration from Operation Sindoor and decided to teach the students about the operations conducted by the Indian forces in the madrasas of Uttarakhand. Qasmi highlighted that Operation Sindoor is included in the syllabus of Uttarakhand's madrasas as it is the country's "paramount."
"A delegation of the Muslim community met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and we congratulate the defence minister on Operation Sindoor. We conveyed our thoughts that we are with PM Modi. Taking inspiration from that, we thought of a new beginning, and we will teach the children studying in Madrasas about Operation Sindoor... Pakistan killed our innocent civilians... We are not those who believe in the two-nation theory. We don't differentiate between Hindus and Muslims... We are including it in the syllabus as the country is paramount... We will begin this from 2025", Mufti Shamoon Qasmi told ANI.
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 in response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam that left 26 civilians dead. As part of the operation, Indian Armed Forces targeted terror infrastructure deep inside Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, eliminating over 100 terrorists linked to Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Hizbul Mujahideen. On May 10, both countries agreed to the cessation of hostilities. The Indian government has decided to send a delegation of its MPs from various parties to different countries to brief them about the Operation Sindoor. (ANI)