The BJP-led Government in Maharashtra has decided to de-recognise Madrasas that concentrated on teaching only religion, while not bothering about teaching basic subjects like English, Mathametics, and Science.
Though the decision has been taken ostensibly to bring the madrasas into the mainstream of education, the initiative has rubbed the Muslim leaders and the BJP’s political opponents the wrong way. The detractors see the move as an effort to “stigmatise” the madrassa education and to promote its “Hindutva-RSS” agenda.
The issue threatened to snowball into a political controversy ahead of the Monsoon Session of the Maharashtra legislature, with the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Majli-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) opposing the move.
Confirming the State Government’s decision to classify the registered madrasas not teaching primary subjects as “non-schools” and children studying in them will be considered “out of school” students, Maharashtra Minority Affairs Minister Eknath Khadse said, “Currently, madrasas impart education to children on religion and they do not provide them formal education. Our Constitution says every child has the right to take formal education, which madrasas do not provide”.
With Maharashtra Government’s controversial decision on madrasas creating a political furore, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Thursday blamed the previous Congress-led UPA Government for bringing the Right to Education (RTE) Act, which does not consider madrasas as educational institutions.
Asserting that madrasas have done a lot of good work in the country and it was important that these are treated as educational institutions, he said his ministry will look into the possibility of including these Islamic-learning centres in the mainstream educational system under the RTE.
Seeking to buttress his point, Khadse said, “If Hindu or Christian children want to study in a madrassa, they do not get admission there. Hence, Madrasa is not a school but an institution that provides religious education.”
Khadse said that Principal Secretary of Minority Affairs department Jayshree Mukherjee had written a letter to Principal Secretary of School Education and Sports Nand Kumar in this regard. Sources said that beginning July 4, State Education department would conduct a survey of students who were not getting formal education.
In an effort to douse that the controversy raked up by the State Government’s decision, Maharashtra’s Education Minister Vinod Tawde and Minister of State for Minority Affairs and Social Justice Dilip Kamble sought to put the State Government’s decision in a perspective.
While Kamble said that the main behind the State Government’s move was to bring the Madrasas into mainstream of education, Tawde said: “We would like to make subjects like science, social science and maths a part of Madrasas curriculum, without interfering in their religious education”.
Dismissing the Opposition’s claims that the proposed move was against the minority communities, Tawde said, “How can it be anti-MuslimIJ Whatever we are doing is for the betterment of students in Madrasas”. On his part, Khadse said that out of a total 1,890 registered Madrasas in Maharashtra, 550 had agreed to teach the four subjects to students.
However, questioning the motive behind the State Government’s decision to de-recognise all such Madrasas that would not agree to make subjects other than religion as part of their curriculum, MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi wondered if the students being imparted Vedic studies would also be considered “out-of-school” children.
“There are many Madrasas that are teach Maths, English and Science. Many Madarasa students have gone ahead and cracked civil service exam. If anything, the state government is attempting to “stigmatise” madrassa education,” Owaisi said.
Former Minority Affairs Minister Nassem Khan, who had during the previous DF government come out with a plan to modernise madrasas, said: “The government has not accorded them recognition, so where’s the question of derecognising themIJ Such statements will have no impact on Madrasas and the good education imparted in Madrasas will continue unhindered”.
Mumbai Regional Congress Committee president Sanjay Nirupam said that the government’s move sought to violate the rights of the minorities and his party would challenge the decision in courts and in both the Houses of the Maharashtra legislature.