Technology bringing back madrassa kids to classes

Nikhil Agarwal Sitapur (WB), Aug 26 (PTI) A number of madrassas inWest Bengal, beset by high dropouts and absenteeism, areseeing a turnaround after integrating Islamic theology withmodern education through the power of technology. After his science class on vitamins, standard ninestudent Abdul Lashkar went to the new computer lab inDar-Un-Neda Siddiquia Madrassa here in Hooghly district tosearch the Internet about food habits of Prophet Muhammad. Along with his classmates, he then came up with adigital story on how favourite foods of the Prophet nourishedhis body with vitamins and other nutrients. "If we tell them about nutrition they won’t find itinteresting but when we link it with Islam then the topicbecomes interesting for them. It helps them relate to theireducation with the community they are coming from," madrassateacher Sugata Dey told PTI. This idea of integrating ‘dini’ (religious) and’duniyavi talim’ (worldly education) with modern technologyhas been conceptualised by educator Amina Charania from TataTrusts. The new pedagogic framework for integrating technologyin teaching and learning was adopted by the madrassa in 2014and since then enrolment has doubled for class five students. "I don’t see any dropouts happening now. On the otherhand the enrolment has increased and so has attendance inclasses," said Babita Dutta Majumder of Vikramshila EducationResource Society who is working for the development of theminority education institutions. MORE PTI NIK MD PRRT