A nine-year-old Hindu girl at Khagaul near Patna is memorising the Quran in a madrassa in a bid to become a Hafiz, officials of the Bihar State Madrassas Examination Board have said.

Her younger brother Ashish Vidyarthi also wants to memorise the Quran after learning Urdu and Arabic. "I am memorising the Quran and I want to become a Hafiz," the student, Hemlata, told rediff.com.

The class IV student in Patna's Progressive Public School said she was eager to memorise the Quran as soon as possible.

According to authorities of the Madrassa Madinatul Uloom, where Hemlata is attending regular classes, it will take four years for her to become a Hafiz. "It is difficult process to learn the Quran and Hemlata will have to devote four years to achieve this rare distinction," said Hafiz Azam, who teaches and helps her at the madrassa.

Her parents are proud of Hemlata. "We are happy and will encourage her," her father Dilip Kumar Choudhary, a railway employee, said.

In the past too, dozens of non-Muslim students have appeared for the madrassa board examinations in Bihar.