Jaipur: Hindu principal mentors school that was once a madarsa

A principal who was earlier affiliated to RSS's Aadarsh Vidhya Mandir is now mentoring students at a school that was once a madarsa. Kailash Chandra Yadav has become the first non-Muslim principal at Rehmani Model School, which had its first non-Muslim teacher in 1995.

Locating in the narrow lanes of Jaipur, the school once taught only religious texts, but now educates around 1,300 students and inculcates values of communal harmony.

According to a report in a leading daily, the children studying in the school belong to the minority community and come from lower-middle class families. Though the school board comprises of Muslim members, several teachers are Hindu.

"Having worked in Aadarsh Vidhya Mandir, it seemed almost weird to work for a 'Muslim' school, located in a `Muslim' locality. However, that feeling passed soon. Students are students irrespective of their religion and education is important for all," Yadav told the daily.

However, the main challenge before the principal and teachers is to convince parents who come from poor backgrounds to send their children to school.

The madarsa-turned-school was started by 72-year-old Akhtar with merely 50 students in the early 1980s and has now grown into a higher secondary school.