Lucknow, May 12 (IANS): The Uttar Pradesh Madrasa Education Board (UPMEB) has allowed all institutions, whether registered or not registered, to hold pre-primary classes on their premises.

Till now, the board was silent on admissions to pre-primary classes.

The decision was taken following reports that many madrasas were already running pre-primary classes on their campus.

The board has, however, clarified that the expenses for such classes will have to be borne by the madrasa itself.

An order issued by UPMEB registrar stated that it was unanimously decided that pre-primary classes should be allowed in all madrasas.

At present, there are 16,513 recognised and over 7,500 unregistered madrasas in Uttar Pradesh. The order further stated that all arrangements, including infrastructure, adequate teachers, security, education of students will be taken care of by madrasas and the state will not provide any kind of funds.

UPMEB chairperson Iftikhar Ahmad Javed said, "Since 2021, there have been discussions to regularise the pre-primary classes operating in madrasas, as scores of institutions were running the classes due to the demand of parents. After a lot of brainstorming, it was finally decided to legalize the pre-primary classes. The decision was unanimous."