U.S. Assists Andhra Pradesh in Madrasa Education

December 27, 2006

HYDERABAD – The government of Andhra Pradesh today launched a program to improve the quality of education in the state’s madrasas with support from the United States government. The program will promote government-approved curricula and improved teaching standards in Andhra Pradesh madrasas and will also help enroll and retain out-of-school children.

The state’s Minister for Minorities Welfare, WAQF, Urdu Academy, Fisheries and Public Enterprises Mohammad Fareeduddin; Minister for School Education N. Rajya Lakshmi; and Principal Secretary-Education Krishnaiah attended the launch. Speaking for the U.S. government, George Deikun, India Director for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) lauded the heads of the madrasas for their leadership in building the alliance with the government and said that the U.S. looks forward to working with the Andhra Pradesh government as the program expands to up to 1200 madrasas in the state.

The U.S. began working with 11 Hyderabad madrasas in 2003 by seeking to integrate formal education into their curricula and helping to build an alliance between the schools and the Andhra Pradesh government. As a result, several of these madrasas received government certification, the enrollment of girls in those schools increased by 16% in the first year and a large number of students participated successfully in public examinations.

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