Imtiaz Alam, a teacher in the Maualan Azad National Urdu University in Hyderabad and a product of a madrassa in Lucknow, has also welcomed it. He said the step 'will help to bring the madrassa student to the mainstream'.

Renowned Islamic scholar Maulana Wahiduddin Khan termed it as 'good news'.

'This will change the future of Muslim children. Earlier too there were attempts to introduce such reforms, but I fail to understand the reasons for the opposition by the madrassa authorities,' Khan told IANS.

Mufti Mohammad Yasin, a government school teacher in Bijnore district of Uttar Pradesh, said it would help bring in modern education to the seminaries. 'Since this is an era of modern technology, modern education is necessary alongside religious education and such reforms will be of great help.'

According to a senior official in the HRD ministry, Sibal is 'determined' to introduce reforms in the madrassas.

Madrassas in India are mostly run with donations from the Muslim community, although some receive foreign donations as well.

There is no exact survey on the number of madrassas in the country. However, renowned columnist Yoginder Sikand in his book, 'Bastion of the Believers: Madrassas and Islamic Education in India', has put the figures at 30,000-40,000. This is around the figure put out by a survey conducted by the Hamdard Education Foundation.

A few madrassas are also affiliated to state governments like in Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Assam. These madrassas draw salaries and collect grants from their respective governments. More than 90 percent of the seminaries are run by the funds collected from Muslims.

The Quran and Islamic law form the basic component of the education imparted at madrassas, though some provide modern education as well. Passouts from the seminaries get jobs in accordance with the degree they obtain. Mostly the products of madrassas get the job of an imam in a mosque, earning a meagre salary of Rs.3,000-3,500.

(Khalid Akhter can be contacted at khalid.a@ians.in)