A tripartite agreement between UNFPA, Bihar State Madarsa Education Board and Department of Education, Government of Bihar has been signed, where Muslim traditional institutions have opened their doors for interventions and assistance in empowering the young adolescents in a state with a young population. Hailed as an unprecedented step in the history of Madarsa education system in India, the prestigious Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi and the Hyderabad based Maulana Azad National Urdu University have also been roped in to facilitate the roll out of the initiative.
The initiative will integrate Life Skills Education in the curriculum of Madarasas in Bihar, which will help to empower young people with accurate, age appropriate and culturally relevant information, promote healthy attitudes and develop skills to enable them to respond to real life situations in positive and responsible ways.
In the first phase, the intervention will reach around 50,000-60,000 Muslim adolescents in 757 Madarsas in Bihar. The second phase will witness the extension of the project to 1000 remaining Madarsas in the state. An Adolescence Education Programme Cell has also been set up in the Bihar State Madarsa Education Board to strengthen the capacities of the Board to replicate and upscale the intervention.
It is envisaged that the partnership will open doors for many other organizations to contribute with their expertise, along with providing more opportunities for replicating the intervention in other states that have significant young Muslim population.
