The News Minute| December 7, 2014| 1.29 pm ISTA survey, conducted by the Karnataka Chapter of Students Islamic Organization of India reveals that many madarasas in Karnataka do not teach mathematics, social sciences and science.According to a report in the Hindu, the survey, conducted for 55 of the 323 registered madrasas in the state, shows that close to 80 percent of the students weren’t well versed with science, mathematics and social science subjects, and over half of them didn't know English. Thouseef Ahmed M.Y., the SIO State president, while stating the need to make mathematics, social studies and science subjects compulsory in madrasas, also said that “Those studying in madrasas are well-versed in Urdu, Arabic and Islamic texts, but this alone is not sufficient as we live in a pluralistic society”. “These institutions need to upgrade themselves and teach other subjects so that students are not isolated,” he added. The study, which also attempted to measure the “self-esteem” of students, says that the students had low self-esteem as they didn’t have knowledge of a wide of subjects. The condition of madrasas though, in the adjoining state of Kerala is far better, with the Samastha Kerala Islam Matha Board running 8,390 madrasas in the state. The Samastha Kerala Sunni Vidyabhyasa Board has 4,118 and the Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen runs 1,126 madrasas, and the number has been steadily growing due to the reformist nature of education imparted there.In addition to teaching a variety of languages, the madrasas, which receive grants from the Central Government’s Scheme for Providing Quality Education through Madrasas (SPQEM), have installed teaching-learning materials-projectors, computers and other audio-visual equipment.Read more at: Kerala madrasas record steady growth, more than 14,000 nowThe picture though, is not glum in its entirety. There are six model madrasas in the state mentioned in the study, one of which is the Madrasa Baithul Uloom in Sindagi of the Vijayapura district. It caters to 400 boys and 200 girls and is equipped with computer laboratories, a playground and a library with English, Kannada, maths and social science taught along with “secular and religious teachings”.