New Delhi, July 25: The human resource development ministry is set to begin fresh talks with Muslim leaders opposed to a planned central board for madarsa education, desperate for a consensus that has proved elusive for the past three years.

Determined to push through the plan but equally keen to avoid confrontation with religious leaders, the ministry is preparing for consultations where it hopes to break the deadlock on the controversial subject, The Telegraph has learnt.

The proposed Central Madrasa Board aims to ensure minimum education standards in the teaching of non-religious subjects like math and science in Islamic seminaries.

Madarsa affiliation to the board will be on a voluntary basis.

The standard-setting board will facilitate the admission of madarsa students into formal higher education — currently inaccessible at most institutions in India — like existing school boards, the government has argued.

HRD minister Kapil Sibal is expected to personally lead the consultations aimed at convincing Muslim leaders that the proposed board will not interfere either with religious teaching or with the management of seminaries, sources said.

The ministry, which is hoping these will prove the last consultations needed on the subject, is ready to return to the drawing board if necessary to incorporate legitimate concerns in its plans, the sources said.

“But we are confident that these consultations may break the deadlock that has stalled the creation of the board till now,” a source said.

Sibal is yet to decide on the mode of consultations. He could meet concerned leaders one by one, or in a collective meeting-cum-discussion on the plans, the sources said. The detailed plan for consultations is likely to be finalised by early August.

The proposal for a central board to standardise madarsa education was first mooted by the previous HRD minister, Arjun Singh, in 2006.

The IITs and most other higher educational institutions in India do not recognise madarsa degrees. Students who study at these seminaries are forced to shift to formal education for Standards XI and XII if they wish to enter the Indian higher education system.

The HRD ministry argued that a madarsa board along the lines of the Central Board for Secondary Education would formalise seminary education, paving the way for recognising madarsa degrees during higher education admission.

The proposal initially drew flak from a majority of Islamic schools of thought and individual Muslim groups running madarsas across the country, amid fears that the move would increase government interference in seminaries.