The Uttar Pradesh government has reiterated that the state-wide survey of madrasas is necessary as the aim of this exercise is to gather relevant data about the Islamic religious schools.
As the UP government gears up for the survey of unrecognised madrasas in the state, Muslim clerics have questioned the intention behind the move. Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, the all-India organisation of Islamic clerics, is spearheading the campaign against the survey.
The UP government has announced a survey of the madrasas, saying it wants to gather information about the number of teachers, their curriculum, and the basic facilities available in these religious schools. There are 15,613 government-recognised madrasas in UP, but the government does not currently have any data on unrecognised madrasas. Now Muslim religious leaders are questioning the government's intention behind the survey.
Minister of State for Minority Affairs Danish Azad Ansari said the survey was necessary for the progress of Muslim youth.
Ansari also said the government was trying to know the number of students in madrasas, the status of teachers, and infrastructure, and it was not right to question its intentions.
"If there is any incident or complaint in madrasas, then it is the responsibility of the government. That is why it is important to know this figure through a survey. There will be no interference in the case of madrasas. The government is only trying to connect them with its schemes," he said.
However, Maulana Ishtiaq Ahmed Qadri said that of the 16,000 madrasas, only 500 were getting help from the government and the rest were being run on donations.
"Madrasas have nothing to gain and everything to lose. The experience of the government regarding madrasas has not been good before, so it is difficult to believe. When the government is making schools private, why is it asking questions about madrasas?" he asked.
Meanwhile, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind spokesperson Darul Uloom Farangi Mahali Maulana Sufiyan Nizami said if there was apprehension about the survey, the government should take the community leaders into confidence and apprise them about the details of the survey.