West Bengal to recognize 10,000 madrasas

The West Bengal government will give recognition to around 10,000
madrasas, the Islamic seminaries, under the state madrasa education
board, enabling them to seek central funds for upgradation, Chief
Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Friday.

"There are around 10,000 madrasas across the state which were not
recognized by the previous Left Front government as it could not
provide them financial support. We have decided to recognize the
schools without taking any financial liabilities of the school," said
Banerjee.

"For recognizing the madrasas, the government needs to give financial
support, which is not possible now because of the poor financial
condition of the state exchequer. And as the schools are not
recognized, they cannot apply for any central funds. So we have
decided to recognize all the unrecognized madrasas enabling them to
seek central funds," she added.