This happens only in India.

Shouldn't the Cornell, Harvard, Caltech, Princeton and our own Queens, Waterloo, McMaster and other universities follow suite and change their admission norms to accomodate the new changes happening in India.

Thank God there was a guy called Dalton McGuinty in Canada in 2004 and 2007.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20090081294&ch=1/25/2009%202:56:00%20PM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Madrassas to be at par with CBSE
Sonia Sarkar
Sunday, January 25, 2009, (New Delhi)
In a bid to mainstream madrassa education, the government has decided to place madrassa certificates at par with those issued by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and affiliates of the Council of Board of School Education in India.

It's a step that will change the life of lakhs of students studying in those organizations.

A case in point is thirteen-year-old Ahmed Shiraj who is a fifth class student at a madrassa; students in other schools at the same age would be in the ninth class.

Till now, Shiraj has only studied religious texts. But in three years, when he graduates from the Fatehpuri Madrassa in Chandini Chowk, Shiraj could be facing subjects like Maths and English for the first time in college.

All his seniors so far have stuck to familiar subjects like Urdu or Unani sciences at Jamia or the Aligarh Muslim University.

But Shiraj wants to do something radically different.

\"I want to study Sanskrit in future. Many people don't understand Arabic. Similarly many don't understand Sanskrit,\" said Ahmed Shiraj, a student of Fatehpuri Madrassa.

Shiraj's wish would soon be fulfilled once the Delhi University and all other Central Universities start recognising the Madrassa degrees that the Central Madrassa board will issue to their students from next year.

\"It's a great opportunity for us. We will now be a part of the mainstream,\" said Ahmed Sharif, a student of Fatehpuri Madrassa.

University colleges are keen to help out the madrassa students in their transition to a new course content.

\"We will give them remedial classes if necessary,\" said Rajendra Prasad, principal, Ramjas College.

The scheme will not only help madrassa students to get into mainstream higher education, it will also open job avenues for them. Even at a time of recession, the young students are confident that they will be successful in fighting against all odds.

\"We can do jobs in BPOs or become doctors or engineers. We are confident that we can compete,\" said Jasimuddin a student at Fatehpuri Madrassa.

It's a view that will find an echo among the over 3.5 lakh students across 7,000 madrassas in the country.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Sunny Leone a true Canadian DESI now back in India !.