New Delhi: The Government has proposed to make education in madrassas more attractive and improve the standard of education among Muslims in India, according to an official.

The proposal under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's new 15-point programme for the welfare of minorities focuses on revising madrassa modernisation programme.

"There are plans to make education in madrassas more attractive by providing better salary to teachers, increased assistance for books, teaching aids, and computers, vocational training programmes," an official in the minority affairs ministry said.

In 2007-08, the central government assisted 5,523 madrassas for modernisation in various states.

"There are plans to bring more madrassas in the ambit of modernisation plan this year," the official said.

The government has also written to University Grants Commission (UGC) to make modalities for recognition of madrassa education.

"The UGC has been asked to work modalities so that universities are encouraged to recognise madrassa qualifications and students from madrassas can seek admission in any university," the official said.

The government has also approved three scholarships scheme for students belonging to minority communities, having 30 percent earmarked for girl students.

"As many as 77,953 scholarships have been given to students from minority communities under various categories," the official added.

The Maulana Azad Education Foundation (MAEF) corpus has been increased from Rs.1 billion to Rs.2.5 billion to enable it to expand its education development activities. IANS