larger in percentages hospital queues there is a lack of information confidence and resources and more affirmative action is needed to bridge the gapone example is the haj committees ias and allied services coaching and guidance cell started in 2009 at its headquarters the haj house in mumbai after the sachar report which painted a very grim picture the haj committee of india decided to start twoyear residential coaching for muslim students says mohammed owais its ceo one of their successful students shaikh mohammed zaib rank 225 who is from ahmadnagar and whose father works at the district court says this was my fourth attempt and it is the haj committee which gave me a good foundationactivist and former member of the planning commission syeda hameed says madrassa students are very bright but madrassas have begun to be regarded as breeding grounds for terrorism this label has gotten stuck to these kids the state needs to help modernize madrassas as well as replicate the model of coaching institutes like zakat on a larger scaleunlike some madrassa students who study maths and science along with religious studies khan did not have the advantage of doing a concurrent course in modern subjects when i started studying for the civils i didnt have that base i would have trouble understanding class 3 mathematics so it took me a lot of work to get to the same level as others before i even joined any coaching institute even learning english was a challenge i would have difficulty reading english newspapersbut the rigour of the madrassa did help learning the quran taught me how to memorise and retain information it also gave me a positive attitude towards life but there are limitations says khanshahid t komath of kozhikode studied in a madrassa for 12 years and even taught at a couple for two years there are gaps in knowledge but we learn compassion empathy and hope i failed my prelims five times consecutively but i had been taught to be patient consistent and not be frustrated with failure says the 30yearold who made it to the information services last year and hopes to improve his upsc rank by taking the exam again his madrassa also encouraged them to join mainstream education simultaneously through open learning programmes komath has a ba in english literaturethese success stories are inspiring many others in the community khan says his village has only five or six college graduates there are very few opportunities available to my community because of financial constraints especially for women he says after ive cleared the exam people are filled with renewed hope for their kids future many madrassa students are contacting me asking for advice the myth that you cant even dream of such things has been brokenwith additional reporting by mohammed wajihuddin in mumbai