Sri Lankan Prime Minister orders to register all Madrasas in a bid to tackle Islamic terrorism

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has ordered the Muslim Religious Affairs Department to register all Muslim religious schools (Madrasas) with the Department, reported Sri Lankan newspaper Daily Mirror.

Rajapaksa reportedly instructed officials of the Department to re-evaluate the curricula of all Madrasas and prepare an updated curriculum with the assistance of the Education Ministry. The Island nation has imposed strict Madrassa regulation in the wake of increasing radicalisation among Muslim youth.

With the neighbouring country passing a stringent order to revamp its Madrasas, the long pending demand of civil society in India has come in the spotlight again. Unregulated Madrasas are playing a key role in the indoctrination of the Muslim youth across India, especially in Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala and West Bengal.

According to data shared by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2016, 20 per cent of those who joined the ISIS went to Madrasa. In the recent arrests relating to the Islamic State in India, several Madrasa teachers were involved. In some cases, Madrasas were reported to have provided shelters to terrorists.

Last year, an Assamese Muslim organisation, the Goriya Moria Desi Jatiya Parishad raised concerns over the quality of education being imparted in madrasas in the state and demanded that the government come forward to regulate the unregistered religious schools, alleging that unregulated institutes are encouraging fundamentalism.