Lucknow, Oct 27 (IANS): Uttar Pradesh Minister of State for Minority Affairs, Danish Azad Ansari said that the government's objective for conducting survey of unrecognised madrasas is to facilitate in developing holistic welfare policy for all students.

"It is up to madrasas whether they want to benefit from the government's welfare scheme or not. There is no compulsion for them to get recognised by the state madrasas board of education. The survey will help the government to find the exact number of students, so that we can prepare a holistic policy for their welfare," he said.

There are currently 20 lakh students in 16,513 recognised madrasas in Uttar Pradesh, and roughly more than 15 lakh in 7,500 additional unrecognised madrasas.

"We just cannot ignore the students of unrecognized madrasas when the government is preparing welfare policy for them. It is the responsibility of government to ensure all Muslim children are given opportunity to grow.

"They have all rights to study Islam and religious text, but with changing times they also need to be taught computer, science and other subjects. Their personality development and exposure to new world challenges is part of the government's goal," the Minister added.